Gaining Clarity
by Maetro
Summary: An away meet gives Emily and Paige the opportunity to bond. A friendship and an eventual romantic relationship ensues.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters, they belong to ABC family and whoever else holds the rights to them.

**Summary: **An away meet provides Emily and Paige with the opportunity to bond. A friendship and an eventual romantic relationship ensues.

**Timeline: **A non-specific point in the second season. I'm not following cannon very strictly, though I will be drawing on it on occasion. There's no A in my story though.

**Rating:** M for future chapters

**Author's Note:** I'm writing this story for this month's NaNoWriMo challenge. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's this totally insane endeavor that writers embark on where they attempt to write a 50 000 word novel in one month. If the story pans out the way I hope that it does, it will probably progress past the month's end, however, while I'm writing the story for myself, I'm posting it for others. So I ask that, if you're reading it, to take the time and leave me a review. Doesn't have to be much, just a quick note to say _hi, I'm still here, still interested_, will do. Otherwise, I'll just add this story to my already vast collection of personal ones.

**Chapter One**

"All right, Sharks, listen up." Coach Fulton's voice rang out over the din of conversation in the hotel lobby. A hush fell slowly over the group assembled off side of the bank of elevators as the girls turned to face their coach. "I have your room keys right here," she continued, holding up a manila envelope. "Now, thanks to the generous support from some of our boosters and the fundraising efforts you girls have put in over the last few weeks, I managed to get us all a bit of an upgrade. We won't be cramming five or six of you into a room this year."

There was a chorus of cheers from some of the assembled girls, but it died down quickly as Coach cleared her throat.

"You will still have to double, and in some cases, triple up," she continued.

Emily bit her lip and glanced around at her teammates, uncertain as to whether it would be better or worse to be bunking one on one.

"Okay, girls, your room assignments are as follows, Abrams, Casey. Daniels, Brant…"

Emily shifted in place as she listened to the names of the girls who were being paired up. She watched them manoeuver through the crowd to get their key cards from the coach, her heart rate increasing as she awaited her own name being called.

"…Fields, McCullers…"

Emily's breath hitched in her throat as her gaze darted first to her coach and then over to Paige, wondering if she should say something. Maybe suggest a switch with one of the other girls? From the way Paige was glancing sidelong over at her, Emily could guess that the other girl was thinking the exact same thing. Inexplicably, it stung.

She started in place as she realized that eyes were on her, the other girls were waiting for her and Paige to move forward and claim their room keys. Averting her gaze from the curious, probing stares and ignoring the flurry of whispers that rippled out among the team she kept her eyes firmly on her converse clad feet as she made her way to the front of the crowd.

"Thanks, coach," she murmured as she reached the older woman first and took the two plastic cards from her hand. She received barely a nod in response before Coach was on to the next set of names on her list.

She didn't hear the rest of the pairings as she slipped off to the side. A moment later, Paige came to a stop beside her. Silently Emily handed her one of the cards. She got no response as it was plucked neatly from her fingers.

"Coach Wyatt and I have rooms at either end of the hall. We will be checking in on you periodically throughout the evening. I don't need to remind you that there are other people staying at this hotel and you're here as representatives of your school. You will conduct yourselves accordingly. Right?"

There were nods all around as she shot them all a stern glance. For most of them, this was not their first away competition. There was only one freshman on the team who had qualified for this meet, the rest of them were old hat at this by now. And the rules had been drilled into them time and time again in the weeks leading up to this weekend. No smoking. No drinking. No parties. No noise. Curfew was eleven and bed checks would be performed. Not that any of these rules would actually stop anyone who was intent on doing any of those things, but these girls were athletes and this weekend was an important qualifying meet. None of them were willing to jeopardize their team standing, or in the case of some of the seniors, scholarship opportunities. As with most meets, there were scouts here and all of them wanted to show themselves off in the best possible light.

"All right girls, dinner is at seven at the restaurant upstairs. Let's get settled in and meet back down here then."

There was a flurry of activity as the girls gathered up their bags and gravitated towards the elevators. Emily found herself at the front of the second group to go up. She allowed herself to be jostled to the back of the small car and dropped her duffle bag to the floor by her feet as she leaned against the wall and waited for her team mates to shuffle in. The others all seemed eager to get upstairs and check out their accommodations, but she wasn't in any rush. The thought of spending the next three days in a hotel room with Paige McCullers was the last thing she'd ever look forward to. She'd been nervous enough about this away meet, the first once since she'd come out a few weeks earlier, uncertain about how her teammates would react to having to share a room with her. None of them had said anything to her outright, but she'd noticed a lot more modesty in the locker room than she was used to seeing. There had been a number of sidelong glances as they were changing, as if trying to catch her peeking. It had been bad enough thinking that she would be spending the next couple of days in such close quarters with a couple of her teammates, sharing a bathroom, possibly even sharing a bed but to learn that she'd be spending those couple of days alone, in a room with anyone was difficult enough to process but to have it be Paige, out of everyone on the team, was ten times worse.

The two of them had never been friends, but they'd maintained a friendly rivalry. They'd joined the team at the same time, as freshmen, and their times had always been close. They'd been paired together for training often, both in the pool and out. They spent a lot of time, just the two of them, running the track and lifting weights and doing laps in the pool, their competitive natures driving both themselves and each other on. If one of them set a record, the other wasn't far behind to break it.

There had been a marked shift in Paige's behaviour towards her around the time those photos of her and Maya kissing had started circulating and rumours of Emily's sexuality had abounded. Gone was the friendly banter, the playful trash talking, replaced instead by an aggressive intensity on the instances that they actually trained together, because suddenly, Paige was swimming in the evenings instead of in the mornings and showing up in the weight room just as Emily was leaving and taking runs around town instead of on the track. They hadn't exchanged a pleasant word in months.

The elevator jolted to a stop, pulling Emily from her thoughts as she gripped the hand railing to prevent herself from pitching forward. She shook herself out of her stupor as the other girls filed out, dispersing quickly down the hallway towards their rooms. With a sigh she grabbed up her duffel, slinging it over her shoulder as she trailed them out of the elevator. She glanced down at the key card in her hand, then craned her head first right, then left, trying to figure out the order of the room numbers. A moment later she determined that her room was down the hall to the left and around the corner so she turned and headed that way.

She was in no particular hurry to reach the room, but there were only so many slow, shuffling steps she could take before she reached it anyway. At the door she paused, one hand on the knob as she took a deep, fortifying breath and swiped the card. There was a click, a beep and the green light flashed, granting her entrance. Slowly she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The room was cast in shadows, the only light on was the one between the beds. And Emily took a moment to be grateful for small favors, because at least there were two. As far as hotel rooms went, it was pretty standard. Two beds about a foot apart along one wall, a long, low chest of drawers with a TV angled at the near end. There was a small table and an armchair tucked in the corner beside the window, which took up most of the adjacent wall.

She was so busy taking in the room that she almost didn't notice Paige standing in the shadows by the window, trying to work the drapes. She just barely managed to prevent herself from jumping, startled, as they suddenly slid open with a whoosh, filling the room with the soft, muted glow of twilight.

"Ooh, look, a room with a view," Paige muttered, causing Emily to glance up just in time to see Paige looking back at her, a smirk on her face as she jerked her thumb over her shoulder behind her. Emily followed the motion and couldn't help the small laugh that escaped as she realized that opposite their window was a brick wall.

"Well, at least it's colorful," she said, her eyes roaming over the lurid graffiti that covered the wall's surface.

Paige snorted softly. But when she didn't reply or make any further comments the lighthearted moment faded quickly. Emily shifted in place and then slung her duffel bag onto the bed closest to her. She followed it a moment later, collapsing gracelessly onto the surprisingly comfortable mattress. Using the toes of the opposite foot she kicked off her shoes, letting them fall to the ground between the bed and the wall with a thump and shifted up the bed until she was resting against the pillows. She felt Paige's eyes on her but didn't bother to turn her head to look. Instead she let her eyes drift shut.

There was some rustling as Paige, presumably unpacked a few things and settled in.

"We've still got awhile until we're supposed to meet the others for dinner," Paige said into the uneasy silence that had settled between them. "I think I'm just going to freshen up."

Emily's head lolled to the side and she pried one eye open to take in Paige standing at the foot of her bed, a towel draped over her shoulder as she made a vague gesture behind her to the bathroom, which Emily had failed to notice in her initial sweep of the room. She made a non-committal noise and let her eyes fall shut again. Paige's shuffling steps crossed the room and the door slid shut with a click, and then quiet ensued.

She must have drifted off into a nap, because the next thing she became aware of was a whoosh of warm air rolling over her and a bright light that stung against her closed lids. She blinked rapidly against the harshness and slid up into a sitting position, her vision clearing just in time to see Paige reach behind her and shut off the bathroom light as she stepped out into the room.

"Sorry," she muttered as the room was cast once again in shadows.

"It's all right," Emily murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes and automatically turning her gaze to address the other girl as she spoke to her.

Her heart stuttered in her chest and she had to remind herself to breathe as she caught sight of a towel clad Paige standing by the table under the window, rooting around in duffel bag. The towel was wearing was short and precariously positioned. It wrapped snugly around her torso, just above the curve of her breasts and barely reached the tops of her thighs. When she moved, the slit along the side where one corner was curled into the edge holding the towel in place, fluttered open, revealing a silvery flash of skin. Her hair was slicked back and still dripping down her shoulders. Her body was long and lean, her muscles flexing and shifting even with the simple action of rifling through her bag.

For a moment Emily was simply stunned, dumbfounded. It's not that she had never noticed Paige was attractive. Of course she noticed. Anyone with eyes would notice. They'd been on the same team for two and a half years now and it was impossible not to be aware of the other girls long, lean body. Of her broad shoulders and sculpted muscles, her taut, flat abs and legs that went on for days. Not to mention her wide, expressive eyes and the faint twitch of her lips before she offered up that broad, easy grin.

She had definitely noticed Paige, but in a way that almost offhand, a peripheral awareness, without actually being aware. She had, for a long time, deliberately not examined why she noticed things like the slight swagger in Paige's steps, or the way her swimsuit hugged the curves of her body when she levered herself out of the pool, the same way she had deliberately not examined the way her eyes had been drawn to Alison's abs every time she wore a mid-riff baring t-shirt or a bikini, or the way her heart had fluttered every time her friend had smiled her way or brushed a hand against her wrist to catch her attention.

It had taken a long time before she'd allowed herself to admit that the attention and interest she paid in other girl's bodies was not within the realm of the everyday comparison that her peers engaged in. And it had only been recently that she had finally allowed herself to act on it. Things Maya had been rocky at the start but being with her had been a revelation and incredibly freeing. Though they had ended their romantic relationship, Emily would always care for the other girl, and would always credit her with being the one who had helped her finally be herself.

Of everyone, it had been Paige who had given her the widest berth since the rumours of her sexuality had started circling. And it had only gotten worse when Emily had officially come out. So it was a little surprising to see her moving around the hotel room so casually, so easily, wearing so little.

She forced her gaze away, not wanting to be that girl, the one that all her team mates feared that she was, the one who checked out other girls while they changed, unaware. She stared up at the ceiling instead, seeking out patterns in the stucco in an attempt to rid the image from her brain.

She tried to tune out the rustle of Paige's movements as she got dressed, tried not to picture each motion because she really, really, did not need those mental images in her head for the duration of this weekend.

Yet, try as she might, Emily couldn't quite seem to keep her head from turning, her eyes from seeking out the other girl. She glanced over once again to find Paige silhouetted against the window in a pair of low slung skinny jeans and a bra, her back to Emily as she pulled a shirt down over her head and tugged her hair free of its collar. She actually had to bite her lip to hold back the moan that rose in her throat as the smooth skin and sculpted muscles of her back disappeared beneath the silky looking fabric.

Paige braided her hair quickly and wrapped an elastic around the end and turned, giving Emily just enough time to turn her head and slam her eyes closed, feigning that she was still napping. She only hoped that the room was dim enough to cover the blush that she could feel burning her cheeks.

"Shower's all yours," Paige said softly, her voice startling Emily into opening her eyes. "The water pressure kind of sucks, but it heats up nice."

"Mmhmm," Emily hummed, struck suddenly with an image of Paige beneath the shower head. She shook her head slightly to clear it and sat up. "I think I'll grab a quick shower," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and pushing herself up onto her feet.

Emily made her escape into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She leaned heavily against it and closed her eyes, trying to gather her wits. After a moment her heart rate slowed and her thoughts stopped trying to take off in directions she didn't want them to go. She let out a sigh, opened her eyes and pushed herself off the door.

The bathroom was small and cramped, with just enough space for the sink, tub and toilette. It would only take a couple of steps to get from one side of the room to another. There were no windows and no fan, so the air was still heavy and wet. Tendrils of steam swirled around the light fixture in the ceiling, and Emily tried really hard not to think about what had caused the state of the room. She crossed the distance of the room in two easy strides and turned on faucet, letting the water heat up before stepping in.

Paige was right, the water pressure sucked. She had to stand about an inch away from the shower head to be under the stream, but it was consistently hot. She washed her hair in the antiseptic smelling hotel shampoo, silently cursing herself for not listening to her mother and picking up some travel sized bottles and then lathered up with the equally unpleasant smelling body wash. Once she was finished she lingered under the spray, luxuriating in the way it pounded gently against muscles that were tight and tense from being stuck on a bus for the past two hours. It was only when the heat of the room and the steam started making her feel lightheaded and dizzy that she shut off the water and stepped out into the room. She wrung her hair out as best she could and dried off before wrapping herself in the large, rough-hewn towel. The material scratched her skin and no matter how tight she pulled it closed across her chest, it wouldn't stay in up. She ended up having to hold it in place with one hand.

It was a relief to step out of the stuffy bathroom and she let out a soft sigh of contentment as the relative cool air of the hotel room met her heated skin. Her eyes immediately sought out Paige, who was propped up against the pillows of her bed, thumbs tapping away at the cell phone cradled in her hands. Her gaze flicked up as Emily stepped into the room, seemingly giving her body a sweeping once over and then instantly dropped, only to dark back up a moment later and hold Emily's eye for a minute before darting away. She cleared her throat softly and dipped her head slightly, her hair falling forward to form a curtain around her face. But not before Emily thought she detected a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

_A blush, really? _

Emily shook her head, chiding herself for being ridiculous and turned her attention back to getting ready. She hadn't brought much for this weekend away, aside from her bathing suits and warmups, she'd packed some jeans, a few t-shirts and a couple of nicer shirts, in case the team decided to go out somewhere nice after the meet. Somehow, she didn't think the restaurant of this not quite a dive hotel counted as such, so she pulled out the first pair of jeans and t-shirt she laid her hands on. As she slipped into the matching bra and panty set that she had bought, at Hanna's insistence, a smile crossed her face recalled the conversation surrounding it.

"_Ooh, that's cute," Hanna cooed, veering across the aisle and into the lingerie section, pulling Emily with her via their linked arms. "Don't you think this is cute, Em?" She stopped in front of a rack of floral printed bra and panty sets and picked up one in light yellow with white daisies on it._

"_Sure, Han."_

"_You didn't even look at it."_

"_I did so look at it."_

"_Then how can you not find it absolutely adorable?"_

_Emily shrugged one shoulder, which made Hannah huff in annoyance. _

"_Are you going to get it?"_

"_Maybe the pink one, with the roses. But, I think this one would look awesome on you."_

_Emily eyed the garments once more. "I don't think so Han. It's not really my style."_

"_I would think that you, out of all people, would have a little more interest in pretty underwear."_

"_Just what is that supposed to mean?"_

"_Oh, come on Em, isn't part of loving the ladies loving the lacy, frilly, girly wear?"_

_Emily just rolled her eyes._

"_You should totally by it," Hannah insisted. "You need to expand your wardrobe beyond sports bras and boyshorts."_

"_What's the point?" She attempted logic, though it was something that rarely worked on her friend. "It's not like anybody's going to see it anyway."_

"_You never know." She held the set out to Emily, who crossed her arms and attempted to stare her down. _

_Hannah wasn't deterred. "I can do this all day," she said breezily. And Emily knew that she wasn't kidding. With a sigh she snatched it out of Hanna's hands. _

You never know is right, she thought, biting back a smile as she pulled her jeans up her legs, hopping a couple times in place to get them to settle just right at her hips. She didn't know for sure that Paige was eyeing her as she dressed. Chances were she wasn't, and the prickling feeling that Emily felt along the back of her neck was just hyperawareness that someone else was in the room with her, and not an indication that eyes were on her. But apparently Hanna was right, you just never know.

She couldn't help but wonder, if Paige was watching her, was she enjoying the show? And, did she like the underwear set? Emily shook her head before the thoughts could settle, attempting to dismiss the whole notion before she made this weekend's living situation more awkward than it already was. She pulled on her t-shirt and ran a brush through her hair and left it to dry in loose waves over her shoulders. She fingered her make-up bag for a minute then cast it aside. It was just dinner with the team, there was no need to get all done up. Ready in what was probably record time, Emily now found herself at a loss for what to do. She glanced over her shoulder at Paige, who appeared absorbed in her phone and then around the room.

Her own phone had been noticeably silent all day. Hanna and Caleb were in Philly for the day, Spencer was tied up at the club with her parents and Aria was holed up with Ezra in his apartment for the weekend while her dad was away in Scranton for some kind of teacher's conference and Emily found herself feeling somewhat adrift without the constant stream of text messages and phone calls. The year apart had been jarring, but they'd come back together closer than ever and it was strange to realize how quickly she had become re-accustomed to having the other girls always at her fingertips.

"Megan just texted." Paige's voice startled Emily, causing her to jump. She spun around and saw the other girl smirking amusedly at her. "Most of the girls are getting hungry, so they're heading down to dinner early," she continued. "Are you ready to go?"

Emily shrugged. "Yeah, sure I guess."

Paige nodded and quickly typed out a response, then tucked her phone into her pocket. Emily watched out of the corner of her eye as she slid to her feet and reached for her jacket, shrugging it easily over her shoulders. She spun away before Paige could turn to face her, cheeks burning as she chided herself to stop it, to nip whatever this was in the bud right now, before things got awkward. She slid on her own jacket, tucked her room key into her back pocket and headed for the door. Paige was a few steps behind her as she made her way down the hallway to the bank of elevators.

They stood silently as they waited for the doors to open, and once they had they stepped inside for a silent ride down to the restaurant. It appeared that Emily and Paige were the last to arrive. The rest of their team mates had settled around a couple of tables pushed together in the center of the room, menus spread out around. The two of them slipped into the only two available seats, side by side, just left of the middle of the table. Conversations swirled around them, and soon they were both pulled into separate ones. They didn't speak at all during dinner, save for the occasional request to pass a condiment.

When dinner was over, a couple of the seniors on the team convinced Coach Fulton to take them to a movie, since it was still fairly early. One of the girls had google mapped the area and apparently there was a theatre a few blocks away. Emily opted not to go. She was tired, from travelling and things had gone pretty smoothly today, she decided not to push her luck. She'd never been particularly close to any of the girls on the team and the distance had only grown more pronounced since she'd come out. None of them had ever said anything to her directly about it, they all still exchanged polite small talk with her if they ran into her in the lunch line or in the hall between classes but the conversations had felt stilted, uneasy.

When she declined the invitation, nobody asked her if she was sure, if she really wouldn't consider coming, which only reinforced that her decision to end the night on a high note was a good one. She bid her goodnight to the girls and headed for the elevator, which would take her back upstairs where she could get comfy in her pj's and watch some cheesy made-for-TV movie in bed.

It wasn't until she'd pressed the call button and stepped back to lean against the wall that she realized she wasn't the only one who had opted not to go. She almost jumped, startled by the presence at her back and spun around to face Paige, who was biting her lip, trying not to laugh.

"Sorry," she said, holding her hands up in the universal sign for surrender. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay." Emily averted her gaze, hoping that Paige wouldn't notice the faint blush heating her cheeks. "Why aren't you going with the others?"

Paige tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and shrugged. "I was going to. But then, Lys mentioned a Nicholas Sparks movie and I was like whoa, I'm out of here."

"Can't blame you there," Emily said, laughing lightly. Hanna was a sucker for romantic movies, meaning that Emily had been subject to all of them. Despite the years of exposure, she had never quite developed a fondness for them the way she had with Aria's beloved black and white's or Spencer's foreign films. To be fair, however, Hanna still complained every time it was Emily's turn to pick on movie night because she wasn't a big fan of action or horror.

"Like you're not escaping upstairs to watch The Notebook on-demand for the millionth time," Paige faux- scoffed, offering Emily a teasing smile. "Or, maybe Pride and Prejudice is more your style," she said as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

"More like Pride, Prejudice and Zombies," Emily said with a shake of her head.

"Seriously?" Paige turned to face Emily, her whole face lit up with excitement and her body practically vibrating with excess energy. "Or are you just messing with me?"

Emily shook her head. "One thing I would never joke about is zombies." She held a hand up. "Scout's honor."

Paige let out a peel of laughter. "That's from Star-trek," she said as she reached out to fold Emily's thumb and pinkie finger down and push the other three together. "That's scouts honor."

Emily glanced over at her hand, the skin of which was still tingling from where Paige's fingers had touched, and then back at Paige, who was grinning amusedly at her. "Oops," she said, shrugging her shoulder and letting her hand fall back to her side.

Paige shook her head. "You know there's a classics movie marathon on the Fantasy Network tonight," she said. "A creature feature movie marathon."

Emily was nodding before Paige had even finished speaking. "I'm in."

"Awesome," Paige drawled as the elevator jolted to a stop and the doors slid open with a whoosh. She stepped out and led the way down the hallway, leaving Emily to follow behind her and marvel, somewhat dazedly, about this unexpected turn of events.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hey, guys. Thank you for your comments. I'm glad that you enjoyed the opening of the story and I hope that you'll continue to enjoy it.

I'll try and update once a week, as long as people are still reading it. Sometimes it might be a bit longer between updates, because I've been having some computer issues (time for a new laptop) but hopefully I'll get that sorted out quickly.

Thanks again. Now, on to Chapter Two.

Paily31894 : I'm glad that you're excited about it. I'm so eager to be writing this and I can't wait to share it.

Guest: No, the drown-kiss-breakup didn't happen. This is sort of my version of what happened instead. I may implement certain things/scenes from the show but I'm not following canon.

ginagina11 Glad you like it so far. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Guest, Thank you.

Guest, I try not to keep you guys waiting for updates for too long.

Guest: I thought I had. But I'll try and tag them again. Thanks for letting me know it didn't work. :)

Ness: I'm glad you enjoyed it.

**Chapter Two**

Twenty minutes later found the two of them in their pajamas and curled up under the covers of their respective beds as the opening credits of some 70's era B-movie scrolled across the screen. Of all the possible ways Emily had imagined this weekend going, this particular scenario was not one of them. She had expected stilted coversations and shuffling awkardly around each other at best and a confrontation of some kind at worst. Bonding over a shared love of zombie films and spending the evening curled up comfortably in the dark, two feet away from Paige McCullers, watching what was possibly the cheesiest movie she had ever seen, if the first few minutes were anything to go by, was an unexpected but definitely welcomed turn of events.

It could be declared a perfect evening, if only she could find a comfortable position to watch the movie from. The tv was angled away from her on the corner of the dresser closest to the foot of her bed, meaning she had to crane her neck or bend her body in an unnatural position to get a good view of the screen.

She bit her lip against a sigh and rolled onto her side, head angled towards the end of the bed and feet pointed towards the pillows, only to find that this way, her face was too close to the tv, blurring the images on the definitely not hi-def screen. She was quickly losing track of the action playing out on screen, all of this re-positioning making it hard to concentrate on what was going on.

"Why don't you just come sit over here?"

It took Emily a moment to realize that it was Paige speaking, and not line of dialogue on screen. "Huh?" She craned her neck and glanced over her shoulder to see Paige shifting over beneath the covers of her bed and patting the mattress beside her.

"Why don't you just come sit over here?" she suggested again. "You're clearly not very comfortable over there and you're going to miss the whole movie if you keep squirming around like that."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," she mumbled, figuring that Paige had probably been distracted by the constant rustle of the covers as Emily shifted again and again.

"You didn't. So, are you coming or not?" Paige arched an eyebrow at her and Emily was greatful that the room was dark because the blush that heated her cheeks surely also made them a deep, flaming red, as Paige's words and the fact that she was propped up against the pillows of a bed and inviting Emily to join her, sent Emily's mind spinning off in directions that were really not very appropriate at the moment.

She shook her head to clear it and nodded, not trusting herself to speak or look Paige directly in the eye as she rolled off her bed and, on shaky legs, crossed the short distance over to Paige's. Wordlessly she slid up onto the mattress and settled cross legged at the head of the bed. The pillows, soft and plump behind her were tempting her to lean back and relax, to sink down into them and stretch out but Emily resisted. Turning her attention to the movie still playing out on screen and trying to catch up.

"Better?"

Emily cleared her throat. "Yeah," she rasped, wincing at how husky her voice sounded. "Thanks."

She felt Paige's eyes on her, but refused to glance over, afraid of what her face might reveal in the dim glow of the television if she did.

Though she could now see the screen perfectly, Emily was still no closer to being able to focus on what was happning on it. Instead her attention was tuned in to how close Paige's body was to hers. The other girl was stretched out beside her, clearly more comfortable with this new arrangement than Emily was. She was half-prone, her head and shoulders being supported by a couple of pillows and even though the covers concealed the lower half of her body, Emily could tell that her legs were slightly splayed, her left knee turned out towards Emily, her right foot tucked inwards. She knew that it was her imagination thinking she could feel the heat of Paige's body through the layers of blankets, but Emily felt like her leg was burning up where Paige's knee was almost touching her.

It was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. Emily knew that. But it didn't make it any easier to stop her mind going off in tangents or her body over-reacting to Paige being so close. She knew that it was innapropriate. She knew that she needed to knock it off. But she couldn't help it.

All she could do was try and ignore it. And make sure she didn't act on it. If she did that then this attraction or infautuation or whatever this was, would go away on it's own. The only reason she was even having these thoughts was because she'd seen Paige in a towel earlier and now they were in enforced closed quarters. If she could just get through this weekend, unscathed, then they would be back at school on Monday and everything would return to normal. Her interaction with Paige would go back to nodding to each other in the hallways or the locker room on the instances when avoiding eye-contact and pretending they hadn't seen each other was not an option.

Slowly, Emily felt her body start to relax. Her muscles loosened somewhat and her breathing eased, the band of pressure that felt like it was wrapping around her chest dissipating. Eventually, the movie on screen, halfway over by now, captured her attention. And when the muscles in her back started to twitch and cramp, protesting being held so stiffly in one position for so long, she allowed herself to ease back against the pillows and get comfortable.

Emily woke up disoriented, not quite sure where she was or what had pulled her from sleep. She knew she wasn't in her own room, it was too dark. There was no glow from the streetlights casting dim shadows across the walls. It took her a moment for the events of the previous day to come back to her. The bus ride. Being assigned to room with Paige. Dinner. Coming back to the room to watch movies. The last thing she remembered was joking with Paige about something that had happened in the second movie in their mini marathon, during a commercial break, laughing until her sides hurt and being surprised to discover that Paige McCullers was _funny._ The movie had come back on and they'd both fallen silent. She must have fallen asleep sometime after that.

As her memory came back to her, so did her sense of awareness of the room around her, the faint hum of the air conditioning unit, the irregular flashing of the red light on the smoke detector mounted to the ceiling, the steady, even breathing of the girl slumbering next to her and the rise and fall of the surface beneath her cheek.

As Paige twitched lightly in her sleep, her heel hitting Emily's shin, Emily realized what it was that had woken her up. She barely registered the dull pain in her leg as she bit back a gasp and took in the compromising position she now found herelf in.

Not only had she fallen asleep in bed next to Paige, she had, at some point over the course of the night, ended up sleeping on Paige. The other girl was lying on her back and Emily was pretty much sprawled on top of her. Her head was resting on Paige's chest, tucked in just under her chin. She could hear the other girls heart beat, strong and steady in her ear. One arm was draped along Paige's side, her hand curled around her shoulder and one leg was nestled between Paige's thighs.

For her part, Paige had one arm slung low across Emily's hips and one foot curled around Emily's calf. Causing her to kick Emily's shin every time she twitched in her sleep.

Oh, God, Oh God, Oh God, she mentally chanted as she tried to figure out how to extracate herself without waking the other girl.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, she slid her arm from around Paige's torso and planted it on the bed beside her, using it for leverage as she attempted to ease backwards. Only to have Paige shift in her sleep, her arm curling more tightly around Emily's hips.

Damn. She let the breath out slowly and contemplated her options. She could stay where she was, and hope one or both of them shifted away in her sleep. And also risk one or both of them shifting even closer. Or Paige waking up at some point and freaking out upon findng them in such a position. No, that was out.

But, she wasn't sure that she could move without waking Paige up. Maybe, if she pulled away fast enough and rolled away, Paige wouldn't realize what had woken her up and would go back to sleep none the wiser. She wondered if that would actually work. It was her best, her only option, really. She took another deep breath and silently pleaded for this to work then pressed her hand firmly against the mattress.

Before she could do anything, Paige shifted beneath her. "Emily?" she murmured sleepily.

Emily's head shot up and even in the darkness, from this close she could tell that the other girls eyes were open. She caught just the faintest glint of a shine from them and felt her own eyes opening wide in response.

"Paige..."

"What are you doing?" Paige's voice was low and thick with sleep and Emily had to force her body not to react to it. Thwarting the shiver she felt beginning it's race down her spine with a shake of her head, knowing that in this position, Paige would feel it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, hoping that the other girl would hear the fervrent sincerity in her voice and not freak out to badly. "We must have fallen asleep. I didn't mean to...I'm sorry I...I cuddle in my sleep. It's just...a thing that I do. It doesn't mean..."

There were only a few people that Emily regularly shared a bed with, but Maya, her friends, they weren't exactly ones to complain about her tendency to curl up to them. When they were together, Maya had not just accepted but reciprocated, pulling Emily close to her or snuggling in against her before they drifted off. And, none of her friends were really in any place to complain about her sleep habits. Hanna kicked in her sleep, whenever they shared a bed Emily woke up the next morning with bruises all up and down her legs. And Aria was even worse than Emily was, seeking out the warmth of the body next to hers with unnerring accuracy, even while deeply asleep. Spencer jokingly called her a little limpet but never failed to curl up into her, her long limbs wrapped around her. Even Alison, on the rare occasion Emily had ever let down her guard, or perhaps summoned up her courage, enough to fall asleep next to, had never held it against her.

"'s okay." Pagie's slurred assurance cut through Emily's rambling and she snapped her jaw shut, silencing herself.

"Right. Thank you. Sorry." She was immensely greatful to Paige for not making a big deal out of this. She shifted backwards, attempting to ease herself away, not wanting to disturb the other girl's sleep any more than she already had.

"What are you doing?" Paige questioned again, her grip tightening around Emily's hips.

"I was just going to-" she glanced over her shoulder, to her own bed, even though in the dark she was pretty sure that Paige couldn't see the movement. Maybe she could sense it though, Emily didn't know.

"I said it's fine," she murmured. "Stay."

Emily stared down at the other girl in the darkness, watching as Pagie's eyes drifted closed and felt the other girl stir slightly, as if settling back down to sleep. Had that really just happened? Maybe Paige hadn't been awake as Emily thought. She couldn't really have said that if she was fully aware of the situation. Could she have?

"'s late, Em. We have a big meet tomorrow. Just go to sleep," Paige mumbled.

Well, that answered that, she supposed. Biting her lip and trying not to grin, Emily lowered herelf down, settled back into her previous position of her head resting against Paige's chest and her arm wrapped around her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Guest: **Thank you.

**Ness: **I'm glad you enjoyed it.

saii79 : Glad to be able to offer you a bit of nostalgia with this one. :) I'm still pretty new to the fandom, so I guess I'm coming at the pairing like the rest of you would have back when it first started. Also, I fixed the tagging. I think.

Dpacheco Thank you. This one's a bit longer, I hope you enjoy.

summersantos2009 Thank you.

xawier321 I'm glad you're liking it.

Mslspatz I aim to please. :) Definitely some good things to come.

And now, on to the story.

**Chapter Three**

Emily woke some time later to sunlight and stillness. She was alone in the bed and she honestly didn't know if she wa relieved or dissapointed by that fact. The light of day made the events of last night feel a little bit like a dream. Her memory was already a little hazy, the details slowly starting to slip away as she came awake and she didn't want to lose the warm, pleasant feeling that had enevloped her as she'd fallen back asleep wrapped up in Paige's arms. It would have been nice to wake up next to Paige, to get a chance to experience that feeling one last time. But she knew that if they had woken up still wrapped around each other, unbearable awkwardness would have ensued as they fumbled and stumbled around each other, trying to extract themselves from the situation. So maybe the small bit of distances afforded by waking up separately would spare them some of that awkwardness. Because it would undoubtedly be awkard.

Deciding that it would be better to face it now than put it off Emily rolled onto her back and cast her gaze around the room, expecting to find Paige sitting at the table or on the other bed, or even for the door to the bathroom to be closed as she got ready for the day. When it became apparent that the room was empty she let out a sigh and pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard as she tried to figure out if she should be worried or not over the fact that Paige had left.

She told herself that Paige's absence could be completely unrelated to last night, she could be getting breakfast or talking to Coach or doing any number of things that didn't imply she'd panicked about their cuddling. However the tight knot in her stomach undermined her logical reasoning.

She was debating whether or not to pull out her phone and reach out to the other girl when the door swung open and Paige eased inside. She shut the door softly behind her and took a few steps into the room, coming to a stop when her eyes landed on Emily sitting up in bed.

"Well,good morning, sleeping beauty," Paige said, offering her a grin.

Emily self-consciously ran a hand through her sleep mussed hair and glanced at the clock on table between the beds.

"Oh, please. It's barely 7:00."

"Yeah, and I've already had a workout in the fitness room, which really isn't much more than a treadmill in a closet, by the way, but whatever."

"You went down for a workout? You should have woken me. I would have come with you."

"Oh, I tried. You sleep like the dead."

Emily offered up a sheepish grin. "Yeah. Sorry." Her friends had made similiar observations, and her Mom had once told her that when she was three she'd literally slept through a tornado that had touched down in the next yard when they were visiting relatives in Oklahoma.

"And, I brought back breakfast," Paige continued, tossing a brown paper bag that Emily hadn't realized she'd been holding onto the bed in front of her. "It's not much, just some fruit and a bagel. But trust me when I tell you that while the hotel says they offer a hot breakfast, it's not food that you actually want to eat." She pulled a face, making Emily laugh lightly.

"That's fine. I can't really eat much before a meet anyway," Emily said, reaching for the bag and pulling it onto her lap. "Thank you."

"No problem." Paige slid onto the end of the bed and settled crosslegged, pulling her own breakfast bag open.

"So I was thinking that tomorrow I'd go for a run instead," Paige said. "There's a small park down the block, I'm sure I can convince coach to let me make use of it. Would you like to come with me?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah. That'd be nice." She preferred to have a light workout before a meet, usually a run but it was hard sometimes on away meets.

"So, we'll set the alarm tonight. How many snooze options do you think we'll need to get you conscious?"

Emily just rolled her eyes and unwrapped her bagel.

"Are you ready for today's heats?" Paige asked around a bite of her apple. "I've seen the times you'll be up against. Looks like you've got some pretty stiff competition."

Emily snorted. She knew Paige was talking about herself. They were competing against each other in a couple of races today and, as always, their times were very closely matched. "Oh, please," she scoffed. "Piece of cake."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Oh yeah, I could win my races with both hands tied behind my back."

"Those sound like fighting words to me," Paige said, a grin forming on her lips. "Care to put a little wager on it?"

"Betting against a teammate, McCullers? I'm dissapointed in you."

"I'm sure you'll live. So?"

"So, what did you have in mind?"

"Uh, well..."Now that Emily had agreed, Paige appeared to be caught out for an answer. "Okay, how about this. Loser buys dinner when we go out tonight."

Emily nodded, that sounded harmless enough.

"But, the winner gets to pick what they eat."

Emily winced, remembering some of the more disgusting seafood options on the hotel's menu but nodded. "You're on."

Paige nodded as well, then stuck her hand out. Emily reached out and shook it firmly, trying to ignore the tingle that ran up her arm at the contact. And the twinge of dissapointment when Paige released her grip, letting her hand fall away and returning to her breakfast.

Emily resumed eating as well, but kept shooting quick glances down the bed towards Paige. Were they really not going to talk about last night? Or better yet, were they really not going to talk about the last three months? And about how after freezing her out for all that time, Paige was suddenly acting like that had never happened and like they were friends? Why now? What had suddenly changed? Yesterday morning Paige hadn't even looked at her as they'd filed onto the bus. Last week she'd walked by her in the hallway with barely even a nod of her head. But now they were going to go running together and making bets over races like old times?

She wanted to just go with it, to accept whatever revelation that Paige had come to and let this camraderie or friendship, or whatever it was that was developing between them continue but she just couldn't let go of how much it had stung being pushed aside, treated like she was nothing, when she had come out and Paige's homophobia had kicked in.

Suddenly the food in her stomach felt heavy and the taste on her tongue turned sour. She choked down a mouthful of banana and tucked the remaining half back into the paperbag.

"Thank you, for breakfast," she said, balling the paper up in her hands as she slid from the bed. "I'm going to go and get ready." She tossed the bag into the wastebasket in the corner, a pretty decent three point shot, she absently noted as she crossed the room to her duffel bag. She felt Paige's eyes on her and tugged self-consciously on her pajama shorts, suddenly aware of how short they were and trying to get them to cover more of her legs. She bent down and picked up her bag, swinging it up onto her shoulder and turned, heading into the bathroom without a backward glance.

The door swung shut behind her and stepped forward, bracing herself against the sink, her fingers curling around its edges until her knuckles turned white and her arms grew shaky with the effort of supporting her weight as she tried to get a handle on her emotions. She didn't understand this sudden burst of anger. Why should she even care if Paige was talking to her or not? They weren't friends. They had never really been friends. Paige could take her new, friendly attitude and just shove it. Just because Emily was attracted to her, didn't mean that she was going to let the other girl jerk her around. She was so tired of the girls she liked playing hot and cold with her, friendly one minute, blowing her off in the next.

And, there it was, she thought, a moment of clarity seeping in through the whirlwind of thoughts.

It was like Ali all over again, Emily was allowing her attraction for another girl to to rule her behaviour towards them, letting them treat her poorly one moment and then smiling back at them the next.

Except, the rational part of her brain pointed out, Paige wasn't anything like Ali. She wasn't using Emily's attraction against her. She likely didn't even know about it. She was probably just extending an olive branch, having realized that it was better to make the best of an awkward situation this weekend than it was to perpetuate it.

Eventually, she felt the wave of anger subside, leaving her feeling drained but a little more clearheaded. Yes, it had sucked when Paige had rejected her after she'd come out. And yes, it would be nice if Paige acknowledged that but holding onto anger or resentment wasn't going to get her anywhere. If she wanted Paige in her life, and she had to admit that she did, she was just going to have to accept the change for what it was and focus on moving forward from there.

With a nod towards her reflection in the mirror, Emily chose to put the situation aside for now, to cautiously accept the show of friendship and see what developed. If things reverted, she'd cut all ties and if they progressed she'd gain a friend.

Feeling lighter and relaxed, Emily turned her focus to getting ready. It didn't take very long. She skipped most of her morning routine, saving the moisturizing of her skin and conditioning of her hair for after the days races, to minimize the damage of the chlorine in the pool. She washed her face and brushed her teeth then pulled on her swimsuit and then a pair of warm ups over it then arranged her hair into a tight ponytail and was good to go.

When she stepped back out into the hotel room Paige had finished her breakfast as well and was now sitting at the head of the bed, flipping through channels on the television.

"You're phone's been ringing since you've been in there," she said, glancing up at Emily briefly before her attention went back to the TV.

"Oh. Thanks." She made a beeline across the room and picked up the device from where it rested on the bedside table. She unlocked it with a swipe of her thumb and checked her missed calls log, six texts and one voicemail. She went to the texts first and scrolled through them, a smile forming on her lips as she read the well-wishes and encouragements from her mom, Toby and her friends. She then went to the voicemail, frowning lightly when she saw that it was an unknown number, before hitting play and bringing the phone up to her ear.

"Hey, Emmy." Her dad's soft, reassuring voice sounded unexpectedly in her ear and she gasped, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. The connection wasn't the greatest, his words sounded somewhat hollow, tinny, but it was unmistakenly his voice and she let it wash over her. She didn't so much as listen to the words as she did the sound of his voice, so when the message had completed she replayed it, actually listening to what he was saying this time.

"Your Mom told me that you have a big meet today," he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to watch you swim. But you know I'm there with you in spirit. I'm proud of you, Babygirl. Good luck out there. I love you."

All too soon the message was over, and Emily hit replay again, not quite ready to give up the sound of his voice.

"Emily? What is it? What's wrong?" Paige's voice, laced with tension, pulled her out of her reverie as the message ended for a third time and she glanced up, startled to find the other girl standing next to her, peering at her with eyes full of concern. She had one hand curled around Emily's waist and the other resting on her shoulder.

It was then that Emily realized that she was crying, tears streaming down her face. Hastily she brought one hand up and wiped them away. "Everything's fine. The message, that was my dad. He called to wish me good luck and I guess I..." she let out a soft, embarrased laugh and shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall apart on you."

"No, hey, it's fine," Paige said, squeezing Emily's waist lightly and rubbing her hand up and down her arm. "Your dad, huh? That's great. He's still overseas, right?"

Emily nodded. "Afghanistan, yeah."

"I'm sorry you missed his call. If I had known-"

"No. It's okay. I mean, I'm sorry I missed it too. It would have been so great to actually talk to him. But, getting the message was nice, too. It's something I can hold on to, you know?" She had a collection of voicemails saved on her phone and played them sometimes when she was missing her dad. This would be another one to add to the collection.

Paige didn't say anything, she simply gathered Emily into her arms and held her tightly. Emily clung to her for a long moment before letting her arms drop and wiping at her face once again, eager to clear the tear tracks and the evidence that she'd been crying but no longer embarrased that Paige had witnessed it.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Paige squeezed her shoulder and nodded once before punching her arm lightly and then stepping away. "Go wash your face, Fields. You look a mess and we've got a meet to get to."

Emily let out a light laugh and shot the other girl a greatful smile before stepping back into the bathroom to do what she'd been told.


	4. Chapter 4

ren-mccullers Thank you.

Shipper: I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far. I hope that you continue to. :)

Guest: Thank you.

saii79 I'm glad I got it sorted. Thanks. I'm glad that you like it. Thank you.

Shananigan I'm glad that you like it so far. Hopefully, you'll continue to.

nana31rauna Thank you.

CarmellaD'Winter Thank you.

**Chapter Four**

The short bus ride from the hotel to the pool where they would be competing was loud and boisterous, the girls on the team high on excitement and letting off steam. Paige, being the team captain was right in the thick of it. Emily sat by herself a few rows back from where the the others were gathered, soaking in the energy, but taking the time to psyche herself up for the day's races in her own way. She wasn't a senior, so this meet didn't hold as much pressure for her as it did for some of the other girls but there would be scouts there and it was an opportunity to make an impression, to show them what she could do.

"Everything all right back here, Fields?" Paige dropped suddenly into the seat beside her. "You don't need me to repeat my pep-talk again, do you?" She practically vibrated in place next to Emily as she gripped the seat backs for balance and turned to face her. Her face was flush with excitement, her eyes wide and sparkling, her grin broad and radiant. Emily couldn't help but smile back at her, her own nerves lifting for just a moment as she was infused by the other girl's energy.

"No. It's fine. I'm fine," she hastened to assure Paige as she noticed her smile slipping a little and the light in her eyes dim slightly. "I'm just nervous, I guess. And all this," she waved a hand to indicate the bus and the chatter from the team, "doesn't really help any. I'll be all right once we get in there."

She was always a wreck before a meet, tense and anxious on the ride to, but the momtent she stepped out onto the deck, got a glimpse of the still, blue water she was fine.

"Anything I can do?"

Emily shook her head. "It's sweet of you to ask, but no." She had her pre-race rituals, just like all the girls did. Once she had a chance to do them, she would be fine. Until then, she'd just have to sweat it out for a little bit longer.

It really did touch her, however, that Paige had thought to ask. That she'd noticed Emily's absence from the huddle.

Paige bit her lips as she cast a glance over her shoulder to the others and then back to Emily. "I could just sit here with you, if you'd like."

Emily would like that. A lot. More than she probably should, actually. But she could see in Paige's eyes the desire to go back and join the girls. To take part in that team-bonding that was so important before a competition. The laughter, the joking, the trash-talking before a meet bolstered in a sport like swimming where sometimes you were competing against each other. It was what fostered that team spirit and kept them cheering for each other, pushing each other to do better, even if sometimes that doing better meant that your teamate might do better than you.

As much as Emily enjoyed being part of the team, she'd never really fit in with the other girls. They were happy to have her on the team because she was good. Her winning helped the entire team's standings. And they were friendly enough. But she'd always felt like an outsider. She was aware of the fact that most of that was internal, her own insecurities and uncertainties about her sexuality had put a wall up between her and the majority of her peers but it didn't change the fact that she just didn't feel entirely comfortable with them. And it had only gotten more pronounced since she'd come out.

"No. You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to. But I'm happy to, if that's what you want."

Emily shook her head. "Thank you, but it's okay." She reached out and laid her hand over Paige's, and gave a gentle squeeze. She did it unthinkingly. It was a gesture she would use with one of her friends without a second thought. She was a tactile person. Whether from natural inclination or born of habit she was accustomed to using touch. It didn't mean any more to her than the words that accompanied it, but from the way Paige cleared her throat and shifted in her seat, her gaze lingering on their joined hands, it was clear to Emily that she'd crossed some sort of line.

Slowly she pulled her hand back and tucked it into her side, avoiding eye contact and trying not to feel stung. She didn't know why she was surprised. Paige had made it very clear over the past few months that she wasn't comfortable with Emily or her sexuality. A couple hours watching zombie movies and some inadvertant late night snuggling didn't erase that.

Yet, Emily couldn't help but feel that it did. It was Paige who had suggested the movie marathon. And Paige who had offered her a spot next to her on the bed. While Emily had been the one to initiate the cuddling, Paige had been the one who said it was okay to stay. And this morning when she was feeling emotional over her dad's phone call, Paige was the one who had touched her, had hugged her. Emily just couldn't understand why she was suddenly shying away from contact now when it hadn't bothered her before.

A roar of laughter made both girls startle and Emily glanced up towards the front of the bus, where the rest of the girls were doubled over at something. Her cheeks began to burn as realization hit her.

"I'm fine," she said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "Go back to the others."

Paige studied her for a long moment then nodded. "All right, if you're sure," she said, still sounding hesitant. But she stood and offered a small smile before making her way back up the aisle anyways.

Emily watched her return back into the fold then rested her head against the cool glass of the window and closed her eyes.

Emily didn't have much time to dwell on things before they reached the school that was hosting the meet and they were ushered into the massive sports complex along with the rest of the teams and spectators. She'd always thought that Rosewood had a pretty good athletics program and their facilities were top notch, but this place was as impressive as it was massive. She was in awe of the two Olympic size pools as well as the whirlpool, the lap pool and the state of the art work out room that they had passed on the way in. She didn't get much chance to marvel over it all though before she got caught up in warming up. Before she knew it, the races were starting and she was standing at the edging of the pool, cheering on her teamates with the rest of the girls until it was time to get ready for her first race. She slipped to the back of the crowd and shed her warm up gear then donned her goggles and swim cap. She did a few stretches and shook out her limbs as the race was called and then made her way back up to the edge of the pool.

"Good luck out there, Fields." Paige's voice was low and directly in her ear. The wam puff of air against the side of her neck sent a shiver coursing down her spine. As did the faint brush of Paige's hands against the small of her back. "Try not to drown on us, okay?"

Emily rolled her eyes and offered a slightly breathless laugh as she stepped up onto the starting block. She knew that there hundreds of eyes on her, but the only ones she could feel were Paige's, burning into her back as she got into position, tensing in anticipation of the starting pistol. It went off and she sprang forward. Suddenly the rest of the room fell away, her teamates, the crowd, Paige's watchful gaze, even her competition. It was all about her now, her breathing and the rythmn of her strokes, her body cutting through the water like a knife. She reached the far wall and excecuted her first turn, pushing off against the tile and propelling herself back down the lane with sure, powerful storkes.

She tapped the wall and bobbed up out of the water, peeling off her goggles to glance around in time to see the rest of the swimmers in her heat popping up out of the water as well. She glanced up to find her coach and the rest of her team milling around, grinning broadly at her. She felt a smile form on her own lips as she levered herself out of the water.

"Good job, Fields," Coach Folton said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Coach," she managed to get out, before being swarmed by her team mates as they offered their congratulations in the form of fist bumps and shoulder squeezes. She accepted the small show of celebration with a pleased smile on her lips. She didn't often feel connected to the other girls on her team, but in these moments after a win, even just a small one like this, she did. She felt solidly and proudly part of the team, a part of something with these girls.

The next race was called and Emily used the opportunity to slip past the others to the bench where she'd stowed her gear. She toweled off quickly and had just pulled on her pants when a pair of arms encircled her shoulders and another body collided with hers, sending her stumbling backwards a few steps with a faint oomph.

"I was standing next to coach when you tapped in. She said that you beat your personal best by two seconds."

Emily grinned, not just at the words but at Paige's enthusiasm. She was always exhuberant at meets. Not one to give up an opportunity, however, she brought her arms up and wrapped them around Paige, pressing her hands into the other girl's back just below her shoulder blades and pulling her in, trying not to take note of how well their bodies fit together or how nice it felt to hold the other girl in her arms.

"But, still a second shy of yours, right?"

"Yeah, well, we can't all be as awesome as me."

"You're such a dork."

The hug had already lasted longer than was strictly neccessary, but Paige hadn't shown any signs of pulling away and Emily certainly wasn't going to be the one to break contact.

She felt Paige's hand slide gently up and down her back and she tightened her embrace in response. When she did, however, Paige tensed in her arms. Biting back a sigh, Emily drew away and stepped back. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her pants and glanced over at Paige, who was shifting back and forth slightly, arms hanging limply at her sides. An awkward silence hung in the air between them and Emily wracked her brain for something to say as she also mentally chastised herself for seemingly being unable to interact with Paige like a normal person.

She'd had crushes before, but never had they rendered her so incapable of basic human interactions, like knowing when to pull away from a hug or how not to make the object of her affections physically uncomfortable in her presence or not being so tongue tied.

"I'm on deck," Paige said after a moment. "So I should go get ready. But I wanted to say, great race."

"Thanks." Emily offered a small, weak smile. "Good luck."

This was the part where Paige would normally say something like "when you're this good, you don't need luck" or "good luck to the other other team, maybe. They're the ones who are going to need it." The cocky show of confidence tempered by the playful grin on her lips and the gleam in her eyes. Today however, all Paige did was nod once as she offered up a small smile and then step past Emily to make her way to the pool, leaving Emily to watch her walk away, feeling confused by the exchange.

After a moment she shook her head to clear it, pulled on her jacket and made her way back to the edge of the pool just in time to offer Liv, one of the freshman on her team, a sympathetic pat on the arm a she made her way out of the pool. The rest of the girls offered similar condolences as the next race was called and then turned their attention back to the pool as Paige took her starting position.

A hush fell over the crowd in anticipation of the start of the race and Emily felt herself growing tense in the silence. Her breath caught in her throat as the pistol went off and the line of swimmer dove into the water. She only had eyes for Paige, heart thumping a proud staccato in her chest at the way the other girl's body unfurled from the starting block to slice cleanly into the water with barely a splash. Around her, everyone was cheering loudly but Emily's voice was caught in her throat as she watched her team mate power through the water. Her eyes followed Paige's form as she reached the wall and turned, quick and clean, her lines smooth and fluid as she started back down the lane. It was only then that Emily allowed herself to take in the rest of the field, a small smile playing on her lips when she realized that, as they came to the second turn, that Paige was half a body length ahead of the others. It was only as Paige reached her final turn and began powering her way back towards them that she found her voice, cheering the other girl to victory.

Paige pulled herself out of the pool and the girls crowded around her, pats on the back, shoulder squeezes and hugs. Emily hung back, wanting to congratulate the other girl without making her feel uncomfortable in front of the others. She waited until Paige had made her way through the crowd to the team's bench before approaching.

"Hey, good race," she said softly as she reached Paige's side. Though she wanted to pull Paige into a tight hug, the way the other girl had done to her earlier, she refrained, making an effort to respect the other girl's boundries. Even if she couldn't quite figure out what they were. Every time she thought she had them nailed down, they shifted on her.

She couldn't help but reach out and give Paige's arm a gentle squeeze though. It was almost as if it's hand was moving on it's own accord, with no thought or direction from Emily's brain. The desire to touch her, even for a moment was just that strong.

"Thanks." Paige's grin was wide and easy as she curled her fingers around Emily's hand, squeezing lightly. She felt a small thrill at the contact. The other girl was practically bouncing in place, the excitement and adrenaline from the race evidently still coursing through her and Emily couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"We go head to head in the butterfly next," Paige said as she dropped her hand from Emily's and shifted away from her touch, turning to grab her clothes from the bench as she did so. Emily tried not to feel dissapointed. Or to notice that her hand cold now that the contact with Paige's skin had been broken.

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. I just really hope that you're not to worn out from this race."

Paige scoffed, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. "It was just a warm up. You're going down, Fields."

Emily felt her cheeks flush with heat at Paige's words taking them in a way that she knew Paige didn't mean. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the innapropriate thoughts and imagery that were starting to form. "Not to you, I'm not," she quipped, her own words only making her face flush further. She was greatful, as always, that her skin tone tended to hide her blushes.

Paige's eyebrow quirked and she pursed her lips in a smirk as she stepped closer, getting up into Emily's personal space in an attempt at intimidation. It ruffled Emily, but probably not for the reasons Paige was intending. All of a sudden she could feel the heat radiating off the other girl's body, could feel the warm wash of air against her lips every time Paige exhaled and it sent a shiver coursing down her spine and goosebumps trailing across her skin. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look unimpressed.

The two of them locked eyes in a staring contest, both of them doing their best to remain impassive, though Emily could see the faint glint of amusement behind Pagie's steely facade and she had to fight to keep her lips from tugging up into a grin.

It was Paige who broke first, her gaze flicking to something beyond Emily's shoulder and she uttered a soft curse under her breath.

"Coach is heading this way," she said softly, taking a step back. "She looks...I think she thinks we're fighting."

"Oh no." Emily relaxed her stance, letting her arms fall to her sides for a moment before shoving them into the pockets of her jacket. She could see why their coach would have gotten that impression. From the outside, it probably looked like the two of them were staring off against each other, the way they'd been standing there, toe to toe, trying to stare each other down. She pulled a face and turned, just as Couch Fulton reached the two of them.

"Good job out there today girls. Both of you," she said brightly.

"Thanks Coach," they chorused.

"Fields, you beat your personal best by a second. And McCullers, you broke a tournament record."

Emily nudged Paige's shoulder with her own, She hadn't known that, but it was a pretty big deal. Paige bumped her back lightly.

"You know I love the hustle. But I want you to remember that today is just the heats. You've got a full day of swimming tomorrow as well, and I don't want you worn out when it really counts."

While Emily knew that was true, she also knew that what Coach was really saying is that she didn't want the two of them going all out to beat each other in their next race.

"You know, Coach, Emily and I were just having that exact same conversation. Hey, Em?" Paige said, a little too cheerily as she slung an arm around Emily's shoulder.

Emily's breath caught in her throat at the action and she nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"It's a delicate balance," Paige continued, her voice strong and steady, as if it didn't effect her in the least to have Emily tucked into her side like this. "Between how much energy to expend to ensure advacement into the next round and how much to conserve for the next round."

Her stomach dropped n dissapointment because she knew it was true, Paige wasn't affected by having Emily so close like this. It still didn't stop her from soaking in the moment. Or from letting her arm from sliding around Paige's waist, her hand curling along the curve of her hip.

"We were just discussing whether or not the last race wore me out," Paige continued. "So sweet of her to be concerned. But, I'm fine. And Emily, I know, is raring to go as well."

Coach Fulton's gaze flicked back and forth between the two of them and then she tipped her head. "You're on deck," she said after a moment. "Go get warmed up."

"Thanks, Coach."

Paige's arm slipped from around her shoulder as Coach turned and walked away. Reluctantly, Emily let her own arm drop as well. Her side felt cold as Paige stepped away and she had to tamp down on her dissapointment so it wouldn't show on her face as the other girl turned to face her, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"I think she thought were going to come to blows. Next time, we should fake a fist fight."

Emily snorted and shook her head, though there was something in Paige's voice that told her the other girl wasn't entirely kidding.

"Are you ready for this?"

Emily nodded, still not trusting her voice.

"Let's do this." Paige bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, eyes shining. Her energy was infectious, Emily felt herelf getting caught up in it as the two of them worked through a series of warm up stretches, finishing just as their race was called.

The moved to the starting blocks, getting into place side by side. Just before they were instructed into position, Paige reached out and grasped Emily's hand, their fingers entwining for just a moment as she squeezed lightly.

"Good luck, Emily."

"You too, Paige."

Paige's hand fell away and Emily took a deep breath, focusing her energy on the race ahead and not the girl beside her. She shifted into position and with the bang of the starting pistol sprang forward into the water.

As the cool liquid engulfed her body she forgot about Paige, about the way the other girl confused her head and made her feel warm and content simultanously. Her attention was entirely captured by the pleasant burn in her muscles with each roll of her shoulders, the rythmn of her breathing, the placement of her body in the water. She lost sight of the swimmers on either side of her, she had no idea if she was ahead by a length or trailing behind and in the moment it didn't matter, all that mattered was the fact that she was swimming. That she was in the water doing what she loved.

That's not to say she didn't care about the outcome. Because she did. She wanted to do well, fo herself, for her team but for the duration of the race that fell away and it was just her.

She tapped the wall and pulled her goggles off, eyes immediately going to her left to find Paige pulling her own goggles off. As soon as they were clear of her head she turned and their gazes met. Paige tipped her head in acknowledgement then pulled herself out of the pool. Emily followed suit.

Their team mates hovered on the perihperal, waiting to see what the reaction would be from the two swimmers when they met out of the water. It wouldn't be the first time that the two of them had faced off in competition and while normally their rivalry had been friendly, if not a little stifled when directly facing off, things had changed in the months since Emily had come out. Instead of a friendly handshake when beaten in pratice, Paige had taken to simply turning around and walking away. Emily had adopted the same response, for lack of any other options.

Things had shifted between them this weekend and she hoped that this race hadn't changed things. It really was a toss up between the two of them, who would win on any given day. Their training and times identical. It could have just as easily been Paige who had pulled ahead and won the race.

She turned to Paige, stomach fluttering with trepidation.

"Good race," Paige said, stepping up and wrapping her arms around Emily's shoulders into a hug.

Emily let out a sigh of relief as she returned it. "You too."

The rest of the team swarmed then, offering pats on the back and shouders to both of them, crowing about how exciting it had been to watch them take the one and two positions immediately, the lead alternating several times between the two of them and leaving the rest of the swimmers vying for third in their wake.

Paige released Emily from the hug, but kept her arm around her shoulder as they moved through the crowd. Emily leaned in, relishing in the contact in a way she knew she shouldn't but was unable to prevent.

Coach was watching them from the sidelines, eyeing them appraisingly. Probably looking for signs of false comraderie. When she apparently found none, she turned her attention back the next race, which was just starting.

Paige didn't let her arm drop until they reached the bench, and only then to pick up a towel, which she unfurled with a flick of her wrists and held it up for Emily to step into. Emily smiled her thanks as the material was folded around her shoulders, a warmth that absolutely nothing to do with the terry cloth draped around her spread through her body. She took the edges from Paige's grasp, their fingers brushing together lightly as she did so, and gripped the material tightly so she wouldn't be tempted to let her touch linger.

She tried not to watch as Paige grabbed a second towel for herself and ran it over her face before wrapping it around her waist. Just as she tried not to let her eyes run over the long, lean lines of Paige's body as she stood there in her swimsuit with water droplets dotting her shoulders and chest.

She dropped down onto the bench, just to have something to do other than stand there and stare at Paige. A moment later, Paige settled in next to her.

"I don't have any more races today until the relay," Paige said as she pulled her gym bag over with her toe. "You?" She pulled the bag up into her lap and began rooting around.

"Same."

"Hungry?" She held up a protein bar.

"Starved." Breakfast was long gone and Emily would have loved to have had lunch by now, but her races were grouped together in such a way that had made eating impossible. She was just greatful for the chance now. "And that protein bar is not going to cut it. Want to sneak down to the cafeteria and see if they've got any decent food here?"

Coach Fulton preferred for the girls to stay and cheer each other on, but when meets ran all day like this it was impossible watch every race. There was always a steady stream of girls slipping away to grab a bite to eat or take a few minutes of quiet reprieve out in the hallway.

"That sounds like a great idea." Paige tossed the bar back into her bag with a flourish and let the towel fall from her waist and began pulling on sweat pants and a t-shirt in it's place. Emily probably would have just sat there watching her, silently bemoaning the girl covering herself up if she weren't so hungry. She shakily to her feet and pulled on her warm up suit.

"Come on, slowpoke," Paige teased, grabbing her hand and giving it a tug in the direction of the double doors leading out of the room. Emily stumbled a step or two behind before catching up. She elbowed a laughing Paige in the ribs, only to be elbowed back. They made their way down to the cafeteria chatting easily. And Paige didn't drop her hand.


	5. Chapter 5

ren-mccullers Thanks. :)

Ness: Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I hadn't planned on writing anything from Paige's point of view, but I do intend to reveal what she's been thinking/feeling as the story plays out.

Guest: Thank you.

Ponderhouse: Glad you're enjoying it. :)

sali79: Yep, dork Paige is adorable. They both are. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story and that it's warming your winter nights a little. :)

**Authors Note:**. With the holidays being only a week away, I doubt very much that I'll get a chance to add a new chapter between now and Christmas.

So I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Whatever you celebrate, I hope that you get to do so with warmth and love.

I wish you all the best.

Sincerely, Sam.

**Chapter 5**

The bus ride back to the hotel from the meet was more subdued than the one from that morning. The team had done well, third place overall so far in the standings and most of the girls had advanced onto the next day's competition, either in their individual races or as part of a relay, so everyone was in good spirits but it had been a long, physically exhausting day and they were all starting to feel the effects of their efforts. Instead of gathering in a group in the middle of the bus the girls were scattered around, sitting alone or in pairs, some talking in hushed tones but most were just resting quietly. There were a lot of heads resting against windows and the tinny echo of a dozen pairs of earbuds playing could be heard from all across the bus.

Emily was sitting towards the middle of the bus, taking the opportunity to reply to the string of text messages she'd received throught the course of the day, her mom, Toby, her friends, a few of her classmates all wanting to know how the day's races had gone. She caught them up then took a few minutes to check her Facebook, updating her status and scrolling through her timeline, making the odd comment, liking a few of her friend's posts.

Paige sat in the seat across the aisle from her, her hoody balled up against the window and her head resting against it, eyes closed, headphones firmly ensconced in her ears. Emily let her eyes linger on Paige's face for a moment, so serene and peaceful in her state of rest, then forced her gaze away and kept it on the device in her hand.

Her phone managed to occupy her for the duration of the ride, though she couldn't help but agree with the sentiment when a chorus of cheers rang out as the bus pulled into the hotel parking lot. She was ready for a long, hot shower, her pj's and the hotel bed. It wasn't quite as satisfying as falling asleep in her own bed after a meet, but it was soft and comfortable and she knew it would be exactly what her body needed to rejuvinate for tomorrow's races.

Normally, Coach liked the team to spend time together, especially after meets, she usually took them out for dinner to celebrate or comisterate the day's races but as the bus slid to a stop in front of the hotel she announced that the girls were on their own for dinner that night, they could come down to the restaurant if and when they pleased. She apparently realized that some of th girls just wouldn't be up for the usual boisterous, sit-down meals that were the norm.

Emily lost track of Paige in the shuffle off the bus and as she made her way into the hotel she acknowledged that it felt a little weird to be by herself after spending so much of the past day and a half with Paige right by her side. She knew it was ridiculous, but she found herself missing the other girl anyway.

She slipped into the elevator with a couple of girls from the team, the three of them exchanging small talk about times and competitors as the car made it's slow ascent. It jolted slightly as it reached their floor, rocking the three of them on their feeet, and then the doors slid open with a whoosh. Emily waved her goodbyes and headed one way down the hall as the others went the other.

6bed, fingers and toes hanging over the edges as she lay their star-fished across it's surface. Her shoes dangled precariously from her feet and her jacket bunched in a way that had to be uncomofrtable under her back, but she didn't seem to notice either.

"I'm beat," she groaned.

Emily would have laughed at how pitful she sounded if she wasn't feeling the same.

"Yeah." She kicked off her shoes and slipped out of her jacket before climbing up onto her own bed, taking a little more care than Paige had as she positioned herself against the pillows and let out a soft sight as she sank into the billowy softness.

Her eyes drifted shut, only to pop back open a minute later when a loud groan from Paige's stomach disturbed the silence that had fallen over the room.

"And I'm hungry." Paige gave another groan. "But, I'm too tired to do anything about it."

Emily did laught at this. Paige let out a disgruntled harumph but didn't bother to comment or even open up her eyes to glare, seemingly too tired to offer up any sort of retort.

Emily's muscles creaked in protest as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pushed herself up to her feet.

"Why don't I go downstairs and get us something to eat? You know you're going to gather up the energy to eat at some point. And, it'll probably be after the kitchen is closed."

She had noticed last night that the kitchen was only open until ten, and it was already a little past eight. By the time Paige took a nap and rested up, it'd probably be to late to go down and get food.

"You'd really do that?" Paige pried one eye open and peered up at her.

Emily nodded.

"But, it's so far away," she moaned. "I'd feel bad making you go."

"It's just a few floors down," Emily said with a laugh. "And I'm not being entirely alruistic. I'm going to want dinner too."

Paige was quiet for a moment, squinting one eye up at Emily as she apparently thought about it. "Thank you, Emily."

"Sure. No problem. What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

"All right. I'll be back in a bit," she said, turning to leave.

"Wait. Emily."

She turned back just in time for Paige to toss something towards her. She fumbled it before catching whatever it was against her chest. When she glanced down she realized it was Paige's wallet.

"Dinner's on me."

"Paige-"

"A bet's a bet."

Emily felt weird about letting Paige pay for her dinner. Even if that had been their agreed upon terms. It felt a little like entering into date territory, Paige paying for her meal, the two of them likely spending the evening watching movies together once they'd both caught their second wind.

She tried to shake the feeling off as ridiculous. She had bought dinner for Hannah, Aria and Spencer countless times. Just as they had done the same for her. It had no more felt like a date on those occasions than it should now. She was letting her attraction to Paige color how she viewed their interactions and it needed to stop. Friends treated each other to meals. And that's what she and Paige were. Friends. Or at least what they were working towards. She pocked Paige's wallet and headed out.

It seemed like a the other girls had the same idea, there wre a few seated in the restaurant at one of the tables by the window, perusing menus but there were quite a few of the girls from the team were crowded around the takeout counter. She slipped into place at the end of the line and studied the menu, looking for something that would keep if neither of them ate right away. As the line crept forward, she decided to order them wraps. Chicken or roast beef would be okay to eat later and seemed basic enough that Paige would probably like one or the other. She didn't really know what the other liked. And, while she was aware that the spirit of the bet had been for one of them to make the other suffer in eating something gross, she knew that neither of them would have the heart to actually do that to the other. Especially not in the middle of a meet.

She stepped up to place her order, adding in a salad and a side of fries, both of which they could split and then moved to the side, joining the cluster of girls still waiting on their food.

"Hey, Emily," Vicky Donovan greeted her as she sidled up next to her and Caitlin Nash, her roomate for the duration of the weekend. "Dining alone tonight? McCuller's down for the count?"

Emily gave a half-shrug, for some reason not really wanting to admit that Paige was just as beat as the rest of them.

"If you want, you can come hang with us." It was a half-hearted offer, but at least Vicky had made it.

"Thanks, but I'lm all right. I'm just going to grab a bite to eat and then probably curl up in bed."

"I hear ya," Caitlin said with a smile and a roll of her eyes. "Saturday night and I'll probably be asleep by ten. I never realized that being an athlete would make me so lame."

The three of them all laughed lightly at the comment, though there was some degree of truth in it. People thought that being a jock and getting to travel to meets was exciting or a never ending party, when the reality was that the last thing on anyone's mind was drinking or partying. It was tiring, a lot of time spent in transit or waiting around for your event and by the end of it, nothing was more tempting than a soft bed and cool sheets.

The other girls' order was called and they waved their goodbyes and headed out. Emily's was ready a few minutes later and she retrieved it, happy to have it in hand and heading back up to the room.

She returned to find Paige in exactly the same position she had been in before. It didn't look like she'd moved even an inch.

"You still with us?" she asked softly as she slipped into the room, moving quietly in case Paige was now sleeping.

"Mmmhmm."

Not sure if that was an affirmation or a denial, Emily set the bag down on the table between the beds and headed for the bathroom. "Dinner's on the table," she said, in case Paige was in fact awake. "Help yourself. I'm going to grab a quick shower."

She wanted to get the chlorine out of her hair, not to mention how nice it would feel to have the warm stream of water against her sore and tired muscles, but she had a feeling if she settled onto the bed, she wouldn't be getting back up again, so even though her stomach was rumbling with hunger, dinner could wait.

When she finished with her shower and stepped back out into the hotel room she found Paige awake and sitting up in bed. She'd changed into her pj's already and was flipping through channels on the TV.

"Took you long enough," she teased as Emily made her way over to her duffle bag and began to root around in it for her own pj's. "I'm like half-starved over here."

"You didn't have to wait for me,"

Paige didn't reply, just continued to flip through channels. Emily quickly pulled on her pj shorts and top, then returned to the bathroom to drape the the towel that she'd had wrapped around herself over the curtain rod in the bathroom to dry. When she came back out, Paige had settled on a station and was now pulling the contents of their dinner out of the take-out bag.

She laid everything out on the bed in front of her, divying up the fries and the salad into equal portions on both halves of the styrofoam take-away containers including half of each kind of wrap for both of them. As she did this, Emily slid into the space beside her and settled against the pillows as if it was the most natural thing in the world. They hadn't discussed it, it was just something they both seemed to have accepted as a certainty. When she had finished she pulled one of the makeshift plates onto her lap and passed the other one to Emily.

"So, I found the perfect movie for us to watch tonight," Paige said around a mouthful of salad. She nodded towards the television and Emily followed the movement, catching a glimpse of the film's title just as it flashed across the screen.

She let out a startled laugh, nearly choking on a french fry. "Swimfan?"

Beside her, Paige cracked up. "Sorry. I had to." She reached for the remote and extended it in Emily's direction. "We don't actually have to watch this. There's a spy movie marathon on one of the other channels. All of the Bourne movies and a couple of classic James Bond."

Emily glanced from Paige to the remote to the screen. She actually really liked this movie. It had been Hannah's choice one movie night a few years ago and one of the few that all five of them had agreed was a good one. Some of the scenes in the movie though, they were kind of...suggestive. She cast another sidelong glance at Paige, knowing it probably wasn't wise to watch a movie with scenes like that while lying in bed with the other girl.

"It's up to you," she said finally with a shrug, unable to actually make the decision to change it. There was a part of her that wanted to watch the movie while like this with the other girl.

Paige shrugged and dropped the remote, returning her attention back to her dinner in front of her. Emily side-eyed her for a minute, trying to get a read on her. Was she aware of what this movie was even about? Was she letting it play to test Emily's reaction to it?

Or was she just being ridiculous and reading into every little thing? Emily shook her head at herself and turned her attention to the movie, trying to lose herself in it and forget about the girl sitting cross-legged next to her, so close that their knees touched and Emily could smell the lingering remnants of chlorine on her skin.

Emily was surprised that, despite the constant tension running through her, an elevated state of awareness that was definitely not helped by the movie they were watching, how easy it was for her to relax and feel comfortable with Paige.

Dinner finished with they'd cast aside their plates and were now stretched out on the bed. They'd both sunk down into their pillows and sprawled out across the mattress, their bodies limp and relaxed. The boundries of personal space now non-existant. Their legs were pressed together along their lengths and Paige was leaning slightly into Emily's shoulder. Emily wasn't entirely sure when or how it had happened, but she certainly wasn't going to make any move to change it. It felt nice. They chatted easily during commercial breaks and commented quietly about the movie, though the silences that fell between them were comfortable and just as easy as the conversations.

Emily knew it had to be getting late as the movie ended. She grabbed up the remote, which had fallen forgotten on the bed at her side and turned to Paige to ask her if she was up for another, only to find that the other girl was fast asleep beside her, her head on Emily's shoulder.

Her first thought was that Paige was adorable when she slept. She looked so peaceful, and her eyelids fluttered softly as she dreamed. And up this close, Emily could see the faint smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. The longer she watched her sleep though, the more uncertain Emily became. She wasn't quite sure what to do. Should she slip out of bed, probably distrubing Paige from what looked like a pretty deep, pleasant sleep? Or should she settle in here, stay the night once again in Paige's bed?

She knew what she wanted to do. But she wasn't sure if it was what she should do. And she wondered if this was how Paige had felt last night when Emily had fallen asleep on her. Had it made her uncomfortable? Had she debated on the proper course of action?

After a moment of indecison she decided to go with her instincts. Paige hadn't minded last night, hopefully, she wouldn't mind again. Nodding once to solidify the decision in her mind Emily turned the tv off and stretched her arm out to turn off the lamp. With a faint click, darkness enveloped the room and Emily closed her eyes.

Emily woke some time later to the feeling that eyes were on her. It was like when she went to visit her aunt and uncle during the holidays and woke up Christmas morning with her two little cousins standing by the edge of the bed staring at her. She couldn't quite define how it was she knew that they were hovering over her, just that they were. She'd stir into consciousness and the fine hairs on the back of her neck would stand up and when she opened her eyes, sure enough there they were, two pairs of sparking blue eyes staring down at her, waiting to pounce and tell her that Santa had come. It was the same feeling she had now. Only she wasn't at her relatives house for the holidays, she was staying at a hotel for a meet and the only other person in the room was Paige.

Her eyes flew open to find Paige shifting from one foot to the other at the side of the bed, one hand on the alarm clock on the bedside table, one hand hovering just above Emily's shoulder as if debating whether or not to give her a nudge. She blinked sleepily and rubbed at her eyes.

"Morning."

"Yeah. Morning. How is it that you get up on time for school every day?" Paige asked, an amused smile playing across her lips. "That alarm has been ringing for like 20 minutes. It went off, I hit snooze. It went off again, I got up. I tried to wake you and you...you swatted at me."

Emily groaned, but Paige's grin only grew wider.

"So I just let it ring and I went and showered. And it still didn't wake you up. So again I ask you, how is it that you manage to get to school on time every day?"

"I have a really good internal clock. And, my Mom is a really, really good cook. The alarm does nothing but the smell of coffee and pancakes in the morning, I'm up like a shot." She brushed her hands together quickly to emphasize her words.

"So, the best way to get Emily Fields out of bed is to bribe her with food," Paige said, sounding contemplative as she nodded. "Good to know."

Emily tried very hard not to think of the implications of that, knowing it was just an offhand remark.

"So, why is it so important that I'm up at 6:00 in the morning?" Despite having gotten into the routine of getting up in the morning for swim pratice, Emily did not consider herself a morning person. She preferred the days when they had afternoon pratices and she could sleep a couple hours longer.

"You said yesterday you wanted to go running with me," Paige said, shifting in place and crossing her arms over her stomach. "Did you not want to still go?" She bit her lip, offering Emily a sheepish, apologetic gaze.

Emily had forgotten all about that but she nodded her head at Paige's words. "Yeah. I still want to go. Just give me a minute to get dressed."

"Sure thing." Paige gave her an agreeable smile and moved out of the way so Emily could sit up and slide out of bed.

Out of Paige's bed. Because for the second night in a row the two of them had fallen asleep together.

What was that saying, once was an accident, twice was carelessness...she shut down the thought however when the rest of it came to her...three times was a trend. She really did not need to be thinking about making it a trend to sleep with Paige.

Not sleep with, with but sleep beside. A blush heated her cheeks as she mentally corrected herself. She really, really, did not need to be thinking about _sleeping_ with Paige.

She made her way quickly into the bathroom and let the door swing shut, a wry smile tugging her lips as she realized how much of a refuge this room had become to her over the past few days. The tiny little space the only place away from Paige in their hotel room where she could take a moment or two to gather her thoughts and get a hold of herself. Even though she always ended up feeling foolish for hiding out in here, it was essental that she could. If not, she'd have probably made a fool of herself in front of the other girl by now, slipped up and said something, let her attraction show.

Although, for all the somewhat awkward moments, the awkard thoughts, she wouldn't trade this weekend for anything. She liked this easy friendship that seemed to be developing. Was glad that they had been thrown together like this and had managed to, not just make the best of it, but thrive off it.

She leaned against the sink and took a few deep breaths, trying to quell the swirling images in her mind, to tamp down on the flush of heat that coursed through her body. Time to stop thinking about Paige and sleeping with Paige and all the other inapropriate, inoportune thoughts that kept popping into her head. They were going for a run. She needed to wash up, get dressed and go out there ready for a light workout before the meet.

_You can do this, _She told her reflction with a faint nod.

"Oh my God, I can't do this anymore," Emily let out a groan and slowed her steps to a snail's pace, jogging in place for a moment before stopping altogether. She rested her hands on her legs and leaned forward, breath billowing.

She heard footsteps and a light chuckle as Paige circled back towards her, apparently having noticed that Emily had not just lagged behind but stopped altogether.

"You all right there Emily?" Her words a combination of concerned and amused.

Emily just nodded breathlessly, though her sudden inability to speak had nothing to do with how winded she was and everything to do with the way Paige's hand was rubbing soothing circles against the bare skin of her back.

She bit her lip against the moan that welled up in her throat and clenched her eyes shut, concentrating on her breathing and not the slight rasp of Paige's calloused fingers against her skin, suddenly cursing herself for deciding to run in this particular tank top, a loose flowing one that had ridden up when she'd bent over, allowing Paige access to the skin that she was not touching.

"I'm onto you, McCullers," she rasped, standing upright and turning to face the other girl. Her mind cleared slightly as Paige's hand fell away, but still remained somewhat blurry as she caught sight of Paige's running gear. The other girl was wearing a pair of form fitting capri leggings, the stretchy black spandex hugging the curve of her ass and her thighs in just the right way and her t-shirt was tight to her body, the definition of her taut abs clear beneath the material not to mention the cap sleeved showed off her tight, toned arms. The whole ensemble was topped off by the messy ponytail now coming loose in tendrils that clung to the faint sheen of sweat that covered her face and neck.

"You figured by bringing me running with you this morning, you could off me and take my place in today's races." She had thought that the two of them were coming out here for a light workout, an easy run along the shades paths within the park, not a sprint like the hounds of Baskerville were at their heels.

Though, she supposed she shouldn't really be surprised. Paige was kind of an intense person. She was pretty much full on, all the time. Why should running be any different.

Paige chuckled softly. "Yep, you got me, Fields. I was going to run your ass into the ground. I've actually got your grave dug up just over there." She gestured vaguely over her shoulder with her thumb. Her laugh strangled in her throat and the color drained from her face a moment later.

"Oh my god. Emily. I'm so sorry."

Emily was a little slow catching up, her brain still foggy from lack of oxygen and the site in front of her. It took her a moment to realize that Paige had just made a pretty morbid and rather insensitive joke, considering. But she just shook her head and waved the other girl off.

"Don't worry about it. Really."

As much as she missed Ali. As much as her heart ached sometimes at the though of her and she cried sometimes, remembering her, she had moved on. It had been a long process but she had healed as much as one was able to heal after something like that and her mind didn't automatically go to that place every time someone made a joke like the one Paige had just made. She'd have gone nuts ages ago if that was the case.

Paige ducked her head and Emily dipped hers as well, trying to catch her gaze. "I'm sorry. I wan't thinking..." Paige's eyes darted around, avoiding hers.

"I'm okay. Really." She offered up a smile, hoping that would reassure the other girl. "It was just a joke. And I know you didn't mean anything by it."

Paige's eyes met her briefly before shifting away. "I have foot in mouth disease," she mumbled.

"I know."

"Hey. You're not supposed to agree with me." Paige's gaze finally met hers, and Emily grinned at her.

"Got you to look at me, didn't it?" She asked. "And to stop feeling embarrased."

"Yeah. I guess." Paige was back to mumbling, but she didn't avert her eyes.

"Look, I do have my triggers. Certain things that make me think of Ali and set me off. But, what you said didn't upset me. It might have, if it were close to Ali's birthday or the anniversary of her death, but please don't think that you have to watch your words around me or not say what's on your mind because my brain might make some connection."

Paige nodded but Emily was unconvinced that the other girl had really taken in her words. She decided not to press the issue right now though.

"So, I'm going to head back," she said, gesturing in the direction of the hotel. "Because I want to swim in the races today, not sink to the bottom like dead weight because my legs are so tired."

"But, we've only made one lap around the park."

"Yes, Paige. We've made one lap around the park. That's plenty of warm up for the races today."

"But-"

"Paige, I can't run anymore. My legs are tired. I'm all sweaty. And these running shoes are starting to give me blisters."

While Emily was competitive, she wasn't afraid to throw in the towel when it wasn't worth it to her to keep going. And, what would going another lap do for her? Exhaust her before her races? Take her out of peak form and give her competition the edge?

Not to mention, she didn't really like running. She did it because it was a neccessary part of training. It kept her in shape and helped her in the pool. But she wasn't like Paige, who seemed to enjoy being active in any form.

She watched the other girl's face fall and she felt guilty. She didn't like running, but Paige did. And Paige had invited her along for the company after all. It would be unkind to just ditch her and head back.

"You go do another lap. I'll stay here and do my cool down stretches. When you're done, we can go get breakfast from that diner across the street, how does that sound?"

Paige shook her head. "No, it's okay. We can head back if you want to."

"No, go. I know you have another lap in you. You're practically bouncing in place."

Paige stopped moving, falling completely still.

"Paige, seriously, go. I'll be right here, stretching out in the sun." She took a few steps over to a patch of grass beside the running path that was bathe in golden yellow sunlight and extended her arm across her torso, pulling it tight to her chest with the crook of her elbow of her other arm. "See?" she raised an eyebrow at Paige, who stood biting her lip for a moment then nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

"Don't hurt yourself, rushing back," Emily cautioned, unable to shake the feeling that was exactly something Paige would do. They were still getting to know one another, but she was starting to get a sense of the other girl. And if Paige thought that Emily was impatient to leave, she'd rush through her own workout, potentially risking injury just to please the other girl. It was endearing, that Paige was so concerned about her well-being but not if it was at the expense of her own.

Paige touched two fingers to her brow in a salute then turned. Emily forced her eyes away from the other girls form and down to the ground, keeping them trained on the blades of grass at her feet and not the sway of Paige's hips as she ran away.

When Paige returned, sweating slightly but still barely winded, Emily had worked her way through her cool down routine and was now doing a bit of yoga on the grass. She had to admit, she didn't really know much. Just a few poses from that one summer when Hannah had dragged her to a few classes because she thought the instructor was hot.

She caught sight of Paige striding towrards her, an amused smile on her face, as she came out of downward dog.

"Not a word."

"What? I wasn't going to make fun. Yoga's hardcore." Emily couldn't tell if Paige was teasing her or not. She sounded sincere, but that smirk was still playing around the corners of her lips.

"Anyway, I just have to cool down. Help me stretch out? I felt some tension in my left calf and I think it could use a really good push."

Emily's throat grew arid at the thought of putting her hands on Paige and helping her through her cool down stretches. The other girls skin heated and sweaty from her workout, her soft skin, her supple muscles. She could only nod as Paige did a few arm stretches where she stood dropped down beside her and lifted her left leg.

Emily was more than familiar with the stretch. And it was far from the first time she'd helped a teamate, hell helped Paige, perform it, but her hands still shook and her breaths felt shallow and airy as she knelt into position and braced Paige's foot with one hand and the top of her thigh with the other. Her fingers slipping against the silky fabric of her pants before finding purchase.

"Ready?" she husked, hoping Paige wouldn't notice the extra rasp in her voice.

Paige merely nodded and began exerting pressure against Emily's hand. Emily, in return, pushed back against Paige's foot, feeling the muscles in her leg flex and loosen. She bit her lip as she slid forward, the position of the stretch bringing her to where she was hovering over Paige. She chanced a glance down, hoping her eyes wouldn't give her away, but unable to get a glimpse of what it might look like to be in this position in an entirely different situation.

The sight took her breath away, Paige's hair was splayed out across the grass behind her head. Her face was flushed and sweating, damp tendrils of hair clinging to her forhead and her brow furrowed in concentration. Her mouth hung open slightly and she breathed audibly, unevenly.

It was too much for Emily, who rocked back on her heels quickly. Too quickly and ended up on her ass. Paige's foot fell to the grass with a thud and she let out a grunt, then rose up onto her elbows to peer at Emily in concern.

"You okay?"

"Fine. Just lost my balance. Sorry." She offerd up a smile and hoped that her complexion hid the blush she could feel flaming across her face.

"No worries. I think that did it. Thanks." Paige lifted her leg and rotated it a few times then nodded, satisfied. "Feels good. Are you ready to get out of here? I could really use some breakfast."

Emily nodded, though her stomach was aflutter and churning. The last thing she needed to add to the mix was food. Paige hoisted herself to her feet and then bent down, extending her hand to Emily. Reluctantly, Emily took it, holding in a sigh as Paige's long, dexterous fingers closed around hers and tugged upwards, pulling her to her feet with ease.

"Steady?" Paige asked, her grip as soon as Emily was on her feet, her hands hovering around her waist in case she needed help finding her balance.

Emily was feeling anyhing but steady. but she nodded anway.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **The Paily ship certainly took a couple of hits with the past two episodes. tt's so sad that Paige has exited the show. Hopefully it will only be temporarily, although last nights episode certainly didn't give us much of that. I'm going to keep faith in the writers, they've brought us so far just to lead us wrong now.

But, in the meantime, here's a little something sweet to tide us all over. I hope you enjoy. :)

LastHase Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

ren-mccullers Thank you. :) I had a nice holiday, did you?

saii79 I hope that you had a nice holiday? They do have a certain dynamic to them, it's fun to explore. I'm glad it made you smile.

Ponderhouse Thank you. :) I hope your holidays were pleasant.

Roonie: Glad that you enjoyed it. :)

**Chapter 6**

The team placed first overall after the second day of races. Most of the girls won, either individually or as part of a relay and the ones who didn't managed to place second or third, giving the team enough points to rise in the standings to first place and securing their advancement to the state championship at the end of the month.

Needless to say, the ride back to Rosweood on Sunday night was loud and boisterous. The exhaustion of two days of competition overriden by the excitement and accomplishment of coming in first. Even Emily found herself caught up in it, kneeling on the edge of her seat in the middle of the huddle as they re-hashed every win and near loss.

She was listening to Jane Hadley's story about how the girl in the lane next to hers false started, causing half the line up to also false start and make it halfway through the race before any one of them caught on to their mistake when she realized that she hadn't heard Paige's voice contribute to the story telling, hadn't her heard her laughter or her commentary. She glanced around the group of girls who were leaning against seat backs and standing in the aisle but her eyes didn't fall on Paige. Craning her neck to peer past her team mates she scanned the interior of the bus, catching sight of Paige sitting at the back of the bus, she was leaning against the window, her head tucked down towards her lap. For a moment, Emily thought that she had fallen asleep, though how anyone could through all the racket the rest of the girls were making, she didn't know. But then she raised one hand up and tucked a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear and Emily realized that she was very much awake. Awake and isolating herself from the rest of the girls.

Frowning, she couldn't help but wonder if it was because Emily was part of the group. Now that the meet was over, was Paige reverting back to her old habits, avoiding Emily and putting distance between them? After how close they had gotten over the past few days, she couldn't fathom it. The very thought of it stirred up an unpleasant ache in her chest. She had really thought that they were building the foundations of a real friendship this weekend. And that it would continue once they had returned to Rosewood. She didn't like the thought of them going back to virtual strangers after everything they had shared over the weekend.

Emily slid out of her seat and slipped past a couple of girls standing in the aisle and made her way slowly to the back of the bus.

"What are you doing back here all by...Are you studying?" Emily stopped in front of the seat that Paige was stretched out in and, caught sight of the text book open in her lap and the notebook balanced haphazardly against one leg as she scribbled something down in it.

Paige jerked in place, startled, and her head shot up at the sound of Emily's voice. The notebook slid to the floor with a thump and her pen skittered across the paper, leaving a thick blue line through her notes.

"Sorry," Emily muttered, bending down to pick the textbook up of the floor. She dusted it off and handed it back to Paige, who took it with a faint smile.

"Yeah, I have a huge chem test tomorrow." Paige swung her legs off the seat and propped her knees up against the seat back in front of her. Emily took it as an invitation to sit and slumped down next to her, relieved that Paige wasn't going back to avoiding her and guilty that she had been so quick to assume that's what she was doing.

"But, we're celebrating." Emily gestured to the rest of the girls, still laughing and talking joyfully. "We're going to State."

"Yeah, well I'm not if I don't get at least a B on this test." Paige slumped sideways against the window and turned her head to glance over at Emily, a frown tugging at her lips.

"Why didn't you say something this weekend? We could have been studying instead of watching movies."

"Because I'd rather have been watching movies with you," she said softly, offering Emily a bashful smile.

Emily felt her own lips tug up in an answering grin. It faded quickly however when Paige closed her eyes and let out a sigh. When she opened them again she flipped the text book open and propped it up against her knees.

Emily reached out and snatched it from her hands.

"Emily-"

"No. No studying on the bus. We need our team captain with us when we're celebrating a big win."

Paige reached out and tried to take the book back, but Emily pulled it out of her grasp, holding it behind her back. For a moment, Paige looked like she was going to fight her for it. She stared at Emily with eyes narrowed, head cocked to the side as she seemingly contemplated going for it. And for a moment, Emily hoped that she would. Doing so, reaching for the book that Emily held out of her reach, would have Paige hovering over her, pressed bodlily against her, and that was a position Emily certainly wouldn't mind finding herself in. She quickly shook off the notion.

"You know I'd much rather-"

"Spencer's in your class, right?" Emily interrupted. "I'll text her to send me her notes. An hour with them and you'll be ready for your test."

"I don't know, Emily."

"I'll even help you."

"How are you going to help me in a class you're not even taking?"

She and her friends did it all the time. They all ended up taking different classes at different times but still generally studied together.

"I can write up flashards, quiz you, whatever."

"I'm sure you have better things to do with your evening than help me study."

Emily shrugged. "Not really."

"Seriously?" Paige arched an eyebrow at her, looking unonvinced. "Your mom seemed pretty excited about the win when you were on the phone with her, she's not planning some kind of celebratory dinner?"

"Sure she is, but she'll be so busy making the dinner that she won't have more than a minute or two to actually celebrate."

Paige bit her lip, considering. Emily knew she had her though, she could see it in her eyes, could tell from the way her gaze kept flicking up to the rest of their tem mates every time laughter rang out or their voices raised.

"Come on, Paige. Come over and let me help you."

She was quiet for a long moment before nodding. "Okay. Thanks, Emily." The grin on her face was wide and beaming and Emily couldn't help but smile back.

"All right then, after you, Captain." She slid from her seat and gestured Paige ahead of her. Paige shook her head, still grinning, as she clambered awkwardly into the aisle and preceded Emily over to where the others were gathered.

As much fun as Emily was having, celebrating with her team mates, she was glad hen the bus finally pulled into the Rosewood High parking lot. Two hours was a long time to be confined, no matter how much you were enjoying yourself.

She shuffled off the bus along with the others and stood for a moment, adjusting to the feel of a surface beneath her feet that wasn't moving. The rest of the girls fanned out across the lot around her, laughing and calling out to each other as they headed for their cars, their voices carrying away in the still late afternoon air.

"You okay there, Fields?" Paige sidled up beside her and bumped her shoulder playfully, sending her stumbling sideways. "Hey. Whoa. You all right?" Paige's hand shot out, gripping her arm and preventing her from falling over.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine." Emily regained her balance but didn't shake Paige's touch off. "Just...I feel like I'm still moving," she said with a laugh. "I'm good now." The two of them fell into step together towards her car. "Do you need to stop home for anything? Are your parents expecting you to make an appearance?" She asked as she dug into her bag for her keys and remotely unlocked the doors.

Paige shook her head. "No. My dad's away on buisness and my mom's at some church thing. Or, some book club thing. Or garden club thing. I don't even know. To be honest, I really wasn't paying attention when she told me. She belongs to so many clubs and committes it's impossible to keep track."

"Says the girl who's on like twenty different sports teams and half a dozen clubs," Emily teased as they tossed their bags into the back seat and climbed into the car.

"Three teams. I'm on three teams. And, one club."

"I don't know how you do it," Emily admitted. "I barely have enough time for school and swimming."

"I like to keep busy," Paige said with a shrug as she settled into the passenger seat.

Emily snuck a glance in the review mirror as she put her key into the ignition, surrepiticiosuly watching as Paige fumbled with the lever that made the seat recline. She bit her lip, trying not to laugh as Paige pitched forward, doubled over almost in half before managing to slide it back far enough that she could stretch her long legs out in front of her. She crossed them at the ankles and leaned back in the seat, getting comfortable. It was an odd thought to have, but Emily couldn't help but think that Paige looked good, sitting in her passenger seat.

"There's busy and then there's...you." Emily caught Pagie's eye in the review mirror as she pulled out of the parking space and offered a teasing grin. "How are you not exhausted? I mean, field hockey isn't exactly a walk in the park. Neither is swimming, or track."

"You know which sports I play?" Paige turned to look at her, one brow raised, lips pursed in what looked like amusement.

Emily's thoughts stalled as she realized she'd been caught out. They weren't friends, there really was no reason for Emily to know which sports Paige participated in. But, she did know. She always seemed to have a peripheral awareness of what the other girl was doing.

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance."How can I not, your face is practically plastered all over the school."

In truth, there were three photos of Paige in trophy cases around the school, one in the main rotunda for field hockey. Which, since Spencer was on the team, it was perfectly reasonable that Emily knew that. One in the left wing, for swimming. It was a team photo that included Emily as well. The two of them were actually standing side by side in it, arms slung over each other's shoulders, grinning widely, the only two freshman on the team that year to place at the state level. The third was in the hallway by the cafeteria, an action shot of Paige at a track meet last year.

Paige snorted, but let it drop. "I've always been what my dad calls hyper-active. Always moving, can't sit still. If I'm in one place for two long I get...twitchy. It's not as bad now as it was when I was a kid. Back then it was..." she let out a laugh, though there wasn't much humour in it. "My parents signed me up for pretty much every physical activity known to man, just to wear me out by the end of the day."

"Did it work?"

"Probably not as well as they'd hoped. I'd still come home and run around the house like a little terror. But, it helped me at school. I stopped getting into so much trouble in class and was able to actually sit down and do my school work." She shrugged.

Emily couldn't help but smile as she picture it, a young Paige, so full of exuberance and energy, causing trouble and kicking up a fuss. She thought it adorable. She didn't say that, however. She merely nodded.

"Is that how you got into swimming?" Emily asked.

Paige nodded. "Yeah. My mom signed me up for afternoon classes at the Y. You?"

"My dad was a swimmer, in high school and college. And I've always been a Daddy's girl," she added with a wry smile.

She'd grown up listening to stories of his high school and college competitions and looking through old photo albums of pictures and ribbons. One of her earliest memories is of her dad holding her as he waded into the water. According to family legend, she was fearless and launched herself from his arms intot the water and splashed around happily for hours, crying any time anyone tried to lift her out. She wasn't sure how much of that was actually true, however but of course as soon as she learned how to swim, she wanted to follow in his footsteps.

"It must be tough, with him being gone so much then."

Emily nodded. "Yeah. I think it might actually worse now than it was when I was a kid. Back then, I didn't really understand what was going on. I knew he was in the army and away a lot, that he couldn't always be around for holidays and birthdays and stuff. But now, I know what he's doing over there. And I hear all the news stories and see all the footage on tv. And I know what could happen to him..."

She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat and blinked rapidly against the tears burning against her lids. She shook her head lightly and forced out a laugh.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get all-"

"Hey, no." Paige reached across the center console to touch Emily's shoulder gently, it was more than a pat, not quite a squeeze. "Don't apologize. If it's hard for you to talk about, that's okay. We don't have to. But if you want to, that's okay too."

How had she never noticed how sweet Paige was before?

Emily shot Paige a watery smile. "Thank you."

Paige ducked her head in a nod. "No problem."

The distance from Rosewood High to her house wasn't very far and it was then that Emily found herself coming up to the turn onto her street. She knew that the subject would be dropped and forgotten as soon as they set food inside the house and the fact was suprisingly dissapointing. She didn't very often talk about her dad. Doing so made her feel proud but also melancholy and she usually preferred not to dwell on, to steer the conversations away from the topic but she had actually been enjoying letting Paige in on this litte piece of herself.

Paige was an attentive, sympathetic listener. And if she was being honest, she could admit that she was enjoying Paige's attempts at comforting her. The hand on her shoulder was now rubbing small, soothing circles. And those eyes, so deep and dark and intense, she could get lost in those eyes.

She idylly wondered if Paige would notice if she circled the block a couple of times but dismissed the notion immediately and set her turn signal. A moment later they were pulling to a stop in front of Emily's house. She turned her key in the ignition, shutting the car off and in the sudden silence the engine clicking as it cooled off was audible.

Did it make her a bad person that she was glad to have Paige there as a buffer between herself and her mother? Things had been better between them lately, but the tension that had been between them since she came out still lingered, just under the surface.

Forcing the thoughts aside she opened her car door and slid out of her seat. Paige followed suit and had pulled open the back passenger door and grabbed both of their bags before Emily had even made it fully to her feet. She slung them over her shoulder and then shifted in place, glancing up towards the house and then back to Emily as she made her way around the front of the car. She fell into step beside Emily as they made their way up the walk, and then fell back as they mounted the porch steps until she was following her inside, few steps behind.

"Emily, is that you?"

"No, Mom. It's you're other daughter." She offered an eye roll and a light smirk to Paige, who grinned and shook her head, then ducked it, hiding her face as Pam Fields strode into the room, wiping her hands on a dish cloth. She paused in the entryway when she caught site of Paige, her stride faltering for just a moment before she closed the final distance and wrapping Emily in an embrace.

"Congratulations, Em. I'm so proud of you," she said, holding Emily tightly, albeit stiffly against her.

"Thanks, Mom."

"How are you feeling? You must be exhausted from all your races today."

"I'm fine. My shoulder's a little stiff." She rotated it experimentally, feeling a slight pull but nothing alarming. " I'm probably going to have to ice it before bed tonight, but I feel good."

"What? Emily, why didn't you say something? I have hot/cold packs in my bag. You could've iced it the whole ride back." Pagie's interjection into the conversation pulled both Fields women's eyes to her and she twitched under the sudden attention.

"Mom, this is Paige. She's on the swim team with me"

"It's nice to meet you, Paige," Pam said, stepping away from her daughter to shake Paige's hand. Her tone was nothing but warm, welcoming, but the look she shot her Emily was one of confusion, and maybe a little suspicion.

"Paige has a big chem test tomorrow, I'm going to help her study."

"But, you're not even taking chemisty."

Paige laughed lightly under her breath. "That's what I said."

"But Spencer is. She sent me her notes. I'm going to show her the Hastings method."

Pam pursed her lips and Emily feared that she might object.

"It's all right, isn't it? If I help her study until dinner is ready?" She smiled sweetly and after a moment the set of her mom's shoulders relaxed and she nodded.

"Of course, honey," she said. "It'll be another hour or so."

"Plenty of time. Thanks, Mom." She pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek and then nodded towards the stairs. "C'mon Paige."

"Emily, where are you...why don't you and your friend study downstairs? There's much more room to spread out in the living room."

She glanced back and caught her mom's eyes darting back and forth between her and Paige. Anger and embarrasment warred within her.

"Mom."

"Emily."

"She's just a friend," she hissed, hopefully low enough that Paige wouldn't hear. The two of them were finally get along, and so well, the last thing she needed was for Paige to freak out at the idea of someone thinking that they were together.

Pam's look was stern and Emily let out a sigh, knowing this was one battle she wasn't going to win against her mother.

"Yeah, we should probably study in the living room," she said, easing around Paige towards the room they'd been relegated to and hoping that the other girl wouldn't ask any questions about the hushed exchange mother and daughter had shared.

Paige, for her part, seemed agreable. She shrugged absently and trailed along behind Emily.

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Fields," she said quietly as she stepped past her mother, earning her a faint smile and a nod before her mom dissapeared once again into the kitchen.

Emily threw herself down onto the couch and bit back a sigh of frustration. If Paige picked up on her mood, she didn't say anything. She stepped over Emily's sprawled out legs and sank down onto the couch beside her, a respectable but not obvious amount of space between them. That was a good sign, at least, Emily figured, that she hadn't caught onto the exchange.

"I like your place," she said, glancing around as she pulled her bag up onto her lap and zipped it open. "It's cozy. Homey."

Emily glanced around as well, trying to see it from an outsiders's perspective. "Yeah. I guess so."

The place was small, but it suited her family just fine. With only the two of them around most of the time, they didn't need a lot of extra space. Both mother and daughter had admitted that they sometimes felt like they were rattling around the place sometimes. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in comforts, comfy cushions and inviting reading chairs, throw blankets and warm colors. Her mom had done most of the decorating and it showed, her natural warmth shining through.

"So, I guess we should get started then?" Emily said, reaching for her bag, which rested at Paige's feet, and pulling out her laptop.

Paige nodded. "I guess so."

It only took Emily a few minutes to print out the notes that Spencer had emailed her, and from there they got down to studying quickly and easily. Forty-five minutes later, Emily was quizzing Paige on the material and, as promised, the other girl was acing it.

"Wow," Paige said, letting out an audible breath as she slumped back against the couch. "I can't believe that actually worked." She turned her head to face Emily. "I have never managed to review that amount of information in such a short amount of time. And, retain it. You're amazing. Thank you."

Emily's first instinct was to tell Paige not to thank her, to thank Spencer. It was her notes and study methods they'd employed, after all. But, she was enjoying the soft smile that the other girl was bestowing on her too much to say anything that would make it dissapear.

Instead, she nodded. "No problem. Anytime."

A long, quiet moment passed between them, the two of them just sitting there, staring across the couch cushions at each other. Then, without warning, Paige broke eye contact and pushed herself to her feet.

"I should probably get going," she said, turning to face Emily. "Thank you, really, for all your help studying" She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and rocked up onto her toes before falling back onto her heels. ". And...and for a great weekend. It was...a lot of fun rooming with you and..."

"Yeah." Emily nodded and reluctantly pushed herself to her feet as well. They'd just been studying, but she'd been enjoying the other girl's company and she wasn't really ready to have her leave. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Paige froze in place, her eyes widening in surprise. "I uh...I wouldn't want to impose on your dinner with your mom."

Emily shrugged. "It's really not an impostion. My mom loves to feed people. And, it's just dinner, nothing really special."

"I don't know Emily." Paige bit her lip, worrying it lightly between her teeth.

"She's a great cook. And, c'mon, wouldn't you rather have dinner here then go home to an empty house and eat something that comes from a box, that you heat up in the microwave," she dropped her voice low on the last word, pushing it past her lips like it was a bad word.

"Hey, for all you know, I'm a master chef. I might be going home to make myself a full on feast."

Emily just laughed, and after a moment, Paige laughed with her.

"Fine. If it's all right with your Mom, I'd love to stay for dinner."

"Of course it's all right. I'll go let her know to set an extra plate," Emily said, with more confidence than she actually felt.


	7. Chapter 7

Guest: The relationship is definitely moving forward, they'll be interacting and getting to know each other and their lives at school will definitely play a part in that.

ponderhouse Thank you. :) We won't be seeing Paily at school for another couple of chapters, but they'll get there soon, and we'll get to see how they interact with each other around their peers.

Guest I'm glad to hear you had a good holiday. :) And, thanks.

saii79 I'm glad to hear that. :) I'm guessing a study session in Emily's bedroom wouldn't be quite as productive. But it might be successful in a whole other way.

CarmellaD'Winter lol. I know, right?

jace24 Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Things will continue moving forward for them, and hopefully you'll find it interesing to see exactly how that plays out for them.

adorablepancreas Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it. And yeah, I know what you mean, there are a lot of AU Paily stories out there that are really good. Personally, I like some aspects of how the relationship developed, but not others. So this is my take on it, or rather them.

**Author's Note: **So tonight's episode was a bit disheartening, a la Paily. I get what the writers are doing, and even why. But I can't help but be dissapointed in the outcome.

And so here is a little dose of lighthearted Paily for any of y'all who's feeling the way I'm feeling at the moment.

**Chapter 7**

Emily found her mom in the kitchen, humming along to the radio playing quietly in the background as she worked at the counter. She didn't even have to ask what was for

one of Emily's favorites and one of her mother's go-to meals on special occasions or celebrations.

"Hey, honey," she said, glancing over as Emily sidled up beside her. "How's studying going?"

"We're done, actually."

"Oh? That was quick."

"Mmmhmm." Emily hadn't really come in here to talk about studying. "Can Paige stay for dinner?" she asked as she hoisted herself up onto the counter.

Pam shook her head. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Please, Mom?"

"It's kind of short notice, Em. I've already started cooking."

"And when is there never enough for someone extra? You always cook for like, ten people."

Pam huffed a soft sigh. "And you've both been gone all weekend. I haven't seen you since you left for school Friday morning. I'm sure Paige's parents-"

"Her parents aren't even home. Her dad's away on buisness and her mom's...out."

Pam's brow furrowed in a frown at Emily's words, but she still shook her head once again. "Not tonight, Emily."

Emily let out a frustrated sigh. She'd really thought the whole, Paige would be going home to an empty house angle would work. Her mom was such a soft-hearted person, she was normally taken in by stuff like that.

"Why not?"

Her mom shot her a stern look and suddenly, Emily got it. "It's not even like that," she said, annoyed with both the assumption her mother was making and the fact that she still couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. "We're just friends," she said firmly. "Paige isn't even gay."

Pam's gaze flicked away from Emily's and she shifted in place. A heavy silence setteld between them as Emily stared at her mother, who refused to meet her gaze.

"Fine," she said shortly, pushing herself off the counter. "Am I at least allowed to drive Paige home? She lives on the other side of town, and it wouldn't really be very nice of me to make her walk."

She was kind of banking on the fact that, if her mother didn't trust the two of them alone together upstairs in Emily's bedroom with the door open while she could walk in any moment, she certainly wouldn't trust them alone in a car, in the dark of night with nobody else around. It was a ridiculous notion but Emily wasn't above exploiting it.

Her mother finally met her gaze and Emily returned it with a stare of her own, crossing her arms over her chest and letting every ounce of hurt and dissapointment she felt in that moment show in her eyes.

She hated that things were like this with her mother now. They used to have a good relationship. They might not have been as close as Emily and her father, but they'd always gotten along. Emily had always felt like she could trust and depend on her. Since she had come out, however, things had been tense, forced. She could tell that her mother still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of it, with her, and it hurt. She just wanted things to go back to the way they had been, back when her mother's gaze had been warm and loving and her arms had been safe and comfortable.

"Okay. Fine. Your friend can stay." Pam sagged backwards with the words and Emily felt a twinge of guilt that she'd emotionally bullied her mother to get her own way. But not enough to change her mind, now that she'd gotten what she wanted.

"Thank you." She bounced forward and pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek.

"Dinner's almost ready. You girls wash up. And, set another place."

"Sure thing. Thanks Mom." She grabbed a plate and cup from the cupboard, collected up a handful of utensils and quickly arranged them into a proper place setting before she turned and made her way back into the living room, probably more excited than she should be by a simple extension of a dinner invitation but she didn't care. Paige popped up from her place on the couch as soon as Emily stepped back into the room.

"Mom says dinner's almost ready," she said. "Bathoom's just there, if you want to wash up. I'm going to run upstairs. I'll be back in a minute." She directed Paige down the small hallway do the downstairs bathroom before bounding up the stairs, two at a time, to quickly freshen up for dinner and then returned downstairs. She'd rushed a little bit, trying to get back down before Paige finished up, so as not to leave Paige alone with her mother but as she rounded the corner of the stairs she realized that she was too late.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Mrs Fields?" Paige's voice, quiet but collected reached her ears and she paused in her steps.

"No, dear. It's all right."

"Are you sure? I mean, that platter looks pretty heavy. I can carry-"

"Really, I'm fine. But, thank you. Emily should be down in a minute, why don't you just have a seat at the table?"

There was some shuffling and no further conversation. Emily made her way into the room to find Paige hovering awkwardly near the table, shooting glances over at her mother as she loaded dishes onto her serving platter. Her gaze shot over to Emily as she strode into the room and she offered up a small smile.

Emily returned it with a broad grin. "Are you ready for this? My mom's cooking is...let me just say you're going to be blown away."

"In a good way, right?" Paige asked in an undertone. "You're mom's not like, secretly a horrible cook but nobody has the heart to tell her or something, right?"

Emily let out a loud, startled laugh. Paige's eyes widened at her reaction, which only made her laugh harder, and louder. She waved her hands, trying to signal that Paige was wrong but it only seemed to alarm Paige even farther. Her eyes grew wider and the color drained from her face.

"Do we need, like, a code word? You say the word red-herring and I'll pretend to get a horrible, debilitating headache and you'll offer to drive me home but really we'll stop for a pizza?"

Emily forced down her laugher and cleared her throat before shaking her head. "No, code words aren't neccessary. My mom's a great cook. I promise."

Paige narrowed her eyes at her for a moment and Emily did her best to look innocent and trustworthy.

After a moment, Paige nodded. "Okay then." She put a hand on one of the chair backs and pulled it out. Emily waited for her to drop into it before taking a seat herself, only to realize that the other girl was holding it out for her.

It was things like this that only nursed the crush that Emily had on her, she thought wryly before sliding into place with a soft smile. Once she had settled, Paige moved around the table and Emily thought it was to sit, but as her mother set the serving platter down in the middle of the table she realized it was to pull her seat out as well.

"Dinner smells wonderful, Mrs Fields," Paige said as she finally took a seat herself.

"Thank you, Paige," her mom said, offering a soft smile as well. Emily knew that she was impressed by the other girls' manners.

The silence was comfortable as they settled in and began serving themselves, but Emily knew that it wouldn't last, it would grow awkward and uncomfortable very quickly and she was wracking her brain trying to think up a topic of conversation.

"Mrs Fields, this dinner is .delicious," Paige said, between moutfuls of food. "The pulled pork sauce, is it homemade?"

"Why, thank you, Paige. And yes, it is. The recipe is a family secret."

Paige took another bite and offered up a small, somewhat smug but mostly playful smile. "I bet you I could guess what was in it."

Pam laughed lightly. "You think so?"

Paige nodded. "I spent a lot of summers in the kitchen with my grandmother. I've got a very well developed palate."

"Oh, do you cook?"

Paige shook her head, chuckling lightly. "Not a bit. I'm sort of a disaster in the kitchen. My mom banned me from setting food near the stove a couple years ago after a small grease fire incident."

Emily grinned, not just at the statement but at the complete and utter unabashed way she'd said it. Not only was it adorable to think of Paige bumbling her way around in the kitchen, but it was adorable that she seemed almost proud of that fact.

Pam made sympathetic noises even as she laughed. "Dare I ask what happened?"

Paige offered a wide, easy grin. "It was definitely not my finest moment. I was making bacon and eggs for breakfast and managed to tip over the frying pan of bacon grease onto the open flame of the gas stove."

"Oh, dear."

"Yeah. My dad had to rebuild half the cabinets in the kitchen and retile the backsplash behind the stove. I haven't been allowed to do more than microwave popcorn since. It's horrible, I know I shouldn't be laughing but..." She shrugged one shoulder in a sort of "what are you going to do" gesture and both mother and daughter nodded in agreement.

"What about you, Emily, do you cook?"

"I can, yeah."

"She just prefers not to," Pam added, to which Emily nodded.

"Well, my mom is such a great cook, why would I want to take that away from her?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Pam said, with a wink, an actual wink, towards Paige.

Emily shrugged. "Was worth a shot though, right?"

A silence settled as the conversation lapsed but it was easy, comfortable. Emily was amazed at how well this dinner was going. After her initial reluctance to let Paige stay, she had been expecting resistance from her mother on all fronts, a la that dinner with Maya. Conversation had been forced and stilted the entire time, despite both Emily and her father's attempts and bridging the distance between mother and girlfriend.

Of course, maybe the difference lay more with the guest than it did with her mother. Maya had been nervous, though Emily hadn't known that that until later, and it had come across as combative. She had tried to be smooth and charming but some of what had come out of her mouth had been snarky. It hadn't started the two of them off on the best foot.

It wasn't really a fair comparison however, because Paige had no reason to be nervous. She wasn't Emily's girlfriend, having dinner with the parents for the first time and trying to win over Emily's homophobic mother. She was free to just be one of Emily's friends from the swim team.

Still, Emily couldn't help but be impressed by how easily Paige had managed to charm her mother with seemingly effortless ability.

"So, you're on the swim team with Emily?" Pam broke the silence with a new thread of conversation. "Did you have a successful weekend of competition as well?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Paige nodded solemly.

"Paige won almost every race this weekend," Emily boasted, knowing that Paige wouldn't.

"Really? That's very impressive."

"Not as impressive as Emily's performance this weekend. The only race I lost, I lost to her." She dipped her head in Emily's direction, a small smile playing on her lips, which Emily couldn't help but return as she remembered the race, and the bet. It had been the most fun she'd had competing in a lot time.

"But she set a new tournament record in one of her other races."

"And Emily beat one of her personal bests."

"Which is still a second slower than Paige's."

Pam's gaze darted back and forth between the two of them, an amused smile playing on her lips as they continued to attempt to one-up each other with accomplishments.

"It sounds like you both had a very successful weekend," Pam interrupted them after a moment. "So congratulations. And a toast to both of you." Her hand went to her wine glass, which she raised in their direction.

Paige blushed and ducked her head. "Thank you."

Emily eyed her mom as she took a sip.

"Since this is a celebration and all, maybe Paige and I should have a glass to toast with as well."

"Nice try kiddo. You can toast just as well with water as you can with wine." Pam smirked across the table at her daughter.

"It's just one teeny, tiny, glass of wine."

"Uh-huh. And when has that ever worked on me before?"

Emily grumbled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure Paige's parents wouldn't appreciate it if they learned I let their daughter drink alcohol right in front of me."

Both women cast a glance over at Paige, who blinked owlishly back at both of them.

"Actually, my parents let me drink with dinner all the time," she mumbled into her plate as her cheeks darkend in a blush. "But, we're Irish," she added with a shrug, as if that explained everything.

Emily had only been joking. Mostly. And she knew her mother hadn't been expecting that response from Paige, so she knew not to push the issue even though technically she'd won the point.

"And really, it's not so much all the time as it is special occasions. Birthdays, holidays, celebrations...um...times when the whole family is around. Which, granted seems to be an awful lot but it's not as often as-"

"Paige, take a breath," Emily teased gently. Even her mother was looking on with a soft smile.

Paige cut off her ramblings and took a deep, gulping breath. The flush on her cheeks had spread to her ears and was just beginning to creep down her neck. She stared sullenly down at her plate for a moment before letting her gaze flick back up, meeting Emily's as she forced a small smile onto her lips.

Emily smiled back encouragingly just before Paige's gaze shifted to her mother, who was eating placidly, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"Do you come from a large family?" Pam asked.

Paige relaxed back into her chair with a soft sigh and nodded. "Yeah, we're a bit of a brood. I'm an only child but my mom has four siblings. My dad has six. And they've all had at least a couple kids. I've got a ton of cousins and growing up with them was like growing up with siblings."

Emily nodded, because she could relate to that. Her mom had three sisters and her dad had two brothers and a sister, all of whom were now married with children of various ages. She had older cousins who she'd looked up to growing up, the way one would to an older brother or sister and younger cousins who she adored and loved to spoil.

"Does your family all live in Rosewood?"

"In or around, mostly yeah. I have an aunt who moved out to Maine, an uncle who went out west, a couple of cousins who've gone away for school but most of us are still here."

Pam nodded. "And, what is your last name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"McCullers."

"McCullers...McCullers. I used to work with a Anthony McCullers."

"My uncle. My dad's youngest brother."

"And, I'm on a church committe with a Maureen McCullers."

"That's my mom."

Pam nodded. "A lovely woman, your mother is. And, she's had some highly complimentary things to say about you. It will be nice to be able to tell her that I've met you, the next time we talk."

Emily bit back a grin as she listened to them converse. It was astonishing, really, how easily her mother had taken to the other girl and watching them now, she could hardly believe that she'd been worried things were going to be awkward.

Dinner passed pleasantly, conversation flowing easily, the three of them lingering over their plates long after they had been scraped clean. It was only when the grandfather clock in the living room began to chime out the top of the hour that Pam seemed to realize that she had been sitting idle for far too long and she stood, beginning to collect the plates from the table.

"Thank you for dinner, Mrs Fields." Paige stood as well and began stacking plates.

"You're welcome, my dear. And please, don't worry about that, I've got it."

But, Paige was already making her way across the kitchen to the counter. She pulled open the dishwasher and began filling it while Pam sent her daughter a pointed look.

"You could take a lesson or two from your friend, honey."

Emily snorted a laugh as she stood. "I've got it, don't worry," she said and finished cleaning up the table under her mother's watchful eye. "You are the worst dinner guest ever," she hissed, hip-checking Paige out of the way and loading it with the items in her hand. "You're making me look bad. And I think my mom likes you better than me now."

Paige only laughed and shook her head, hip-checking Emily back as the door to the dishwasher slid shut with a dull thud.

"Hey, Mom, can Paige stay awhile, watch a movie or something?"

She knew she was pushing it, she'd already foisted a dinner guest onto her mother. No matter how much she seemed to like Paige, adding her company for the evening might prove to be to much, but she couldn't resist trying it. Though they had spent the better part of three days together, Emily felt like it was barely any time at all. She wasn't quite ready to call it a night yet.

Pam glanced at the clock on the stove and pursed her lips for a moment. "Okay. But not too late. It is still a school night."

"Awesome. Thanks Mom. You can stay a bit, can't you?" she asked Paige as an afterthought. Paige shot her an amused grin, but nodded.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"Did you want to watch a movie? You can go pick something out while I finish cleaning up in here?"

"Sure." Paige shrugged and turned to make her way into the living room.

"I'm going into the den to email your dad," her mom said."You guys stay downstairs."

"Mom-"

"I mean it, Em."

She opened her mouth to protest but snapped it shut again under the intensity of her mother's stare. It was a pointless battle. And one she didn't want to waste time fighting while Paige was waiting on her in the next room. She nodded her understanding and went back to wiping down the counter.

She finished quickly and made her way out into the living room, pausing in the doorway to watch Paige, bent down in front of the cabinet by the tv, perusing the dvd collection. It was rather expansive. She and her father had lovingly been collecting obscure and blockbuster titles for years.

"Find anything yet?"

Her voice startled Paige, making her yelp as she shot one hand out, resting it on the cabinet to steady herself. Slowly she rose to her feet and turned around, scowling at Emily, who was laughing at her.

"How 'bout this?"

She held up a dvd and Emily froze in place as her eyes fell on the cover. A lump formed in her stomach, and it felt like it was trying to claw it's way up into her throat.

Paige's brows furrowed in concern as her gaze flitted from Emily down to the movie in her hand and back again. "Okay," she said slowly, drawing the word out. "Or not."

Emily shook herself out of her stupor and made her way across the room to where Paige stood. "I'm sorry. It's just that movie-"

"You don't have to explain." Paige tucked the movie back into place and spun back around. "Why don't you pick out something else?"

Emily bit her lip, debating whether or not to get into it. On one hand, she felt like she owed Paige some kind of explanation. On the other hand, she wasn't sure how comfortable Paige would be hearing how the movie she'd picked out, I Walked With A Zombie, would forever remind Emily of the first real relationship she'd been in.

Just that fleeting glance at the cover brought all of those old feelings flooding back, the nerves and excitement of being out on her first date with a girl, the sweaty, tingling feeling of her palms as Maya held her hand, the butterflies in her stomach every time their eyes met or Maya smiled at her, the way her heart beat so loudly in her ears she could barely hear the movie. It was bittersweet, those memories. She would always cherish Maya for everything she had done for her. For being such positive influence in her life at the exact moment that she needed it. Just as she would always ache a little as she remembered the way it had devolved until they were forced to end it.

It wasn't exactly something she enjoyed re-hashing. And while Paige had proven to be a supportive and sympathetic listener, Emily wasn't sure she wanted to test the boundaries of that just now. It was best just to leave it alone, she decided.

Instead of answering she bend down and scanned the titles, looking for something she figured Paige might not have seen. After a moment she found one that looked promising. She held it up for inspection.

"You haven't seen this one, have you?" Paige shook her head and Emily grinned. "Awesome. You'e going to love it.

Paige made her way over to the couch while Emily popped the disk into the DVD player.

"That better not be an idle promise, Fields," she said as dropped down onto the couch.

Emily scoffed. "I would never."

She crossed the room and, ignoring her first instinct, which was to settle in right beside her, she took a seat at couch and immediately grabbed a throw pillow and placed it in her lap, curling her body around it so she wouldn't curl it around the girl sitting just a couple of feet away.


	8. Chapter 8

Rooonie Thanks for reading. :) I'm glad that you're all caught up. Yeah, reading and writing Paily is what's going to get me through the last half of this season, if things continue to progress like this.

take-everything-and-more Yeah, she is. But, Paige will win her over, I'm sure.

saii79 Probably a little bit of both. She knows her mom won't approve. And she doesn't want to let herself get too invested. I think that Pam's on her way to coming around. And yeah, Paige's particular brand of charm will definitely help.

Guest :lol I know, right?

CarmellaD'Winter I think things went about as well as could be expected. But, I'm sure it won't be the last of Field's family dinners that Paige attends.

ponderhouse I'm glad you're enjoying the story. And that you like the family dynamic with Emily and Pam. They're in a rough spot right now, but they'll get through it.

**Author's Note:** This one's a little short, but I wanted to have something prepared to coincide with this weeks episode, because I figured we'd all need a little dose of Paily after tonight. Short but sweet. I hope that you enjoy it. :)

**Chapter 8**

Emily pulled up to curb in front of Paige's house and killed the engine. She glanced sidelong over at Paige, only to catch the othe girl looking back. She forced herself not to avert her gaze and offered up a small, albeit uncertain smile. The interior of the car was dark, cast in murky shadows by the streetlight a few feet ahead of them. There was just enough light for her to make out Paige's silhouettte, and to tell that the other girl had one hand on the door handle, but had not yet made a move to open it.

It felt like that moment at the end of a first date, just before you leaned in for that first goodnight kiss. That eager, anxious moment where your eyes met in the darkness and your heart slammed in your chest and butterflies stirred in your chest and your breath caught in your throat for a second before you leaned in and went for it.

Except, this wasn't a date. Emily had been repeating that like a mantra ever since the two of them had settled in on the couch for the movie. Paige wasn't into her like that.

This wasn't a date.

"I had a really good time tonight," Paige said quietly, her eyes shining in the darkness, though the shadows made her face unreadable.

Even if at times it really felt like one.

"Yeah," Emily agreed softly. "Me too."

"I really appreciate you helping me study. And, dinner was great too."

Emily nodded. "I'm glad I could help."

"You're Mom's really cool. She's very...attentive. My mom's not like that at all. She's barely even around y'know? I'm pretty she hasn't even met like, half my friends, let alone tried to get to know them. It was kind of nice."

Emily snorted softly. She couldn't help it. Her Mom hadn't been being friendly. She hadn't kept popping into the room offer snacks or drinks or to make sure they were warm enough out of maternal concern or an attempt to be a good hostess. "My mom was afraid that if she left alone us for more than ten minutes we'd end up making out on her couch."

The words were out before she could censor them. And as Paige drew back slightly in her seat and blinked rapidly a few times, she wished there was a way she could call them back.

"But don't worry, I told her it wasn't like that," she hastened to reassure Paige. "I told her that we're just friends."

Paige was quiet for a long moment and then she nodded. "Oh. Okay."

Emily bit her lip, awaitng any further reaction from Paige. In a way, she was glad that it was out there, between them. Her sexuality had been the elephant in the room all weekend. It's not that Emily had purposfully not mentioned it. But, she hadn't gone out of her way to bring it up, either. And as much as she wanted this friendship with Paige to work, she knew that it wouldn't, it couldn't, if she had to reign in parts of herself.

"I should probably head in," Paige said, nodding in the direction of her house, which was shrouded in darkness. Not even a porch light to welcome her home. "Let you get going before your mom sends out a search party."

Though Paige was joking, it wasn't really that far-fetched a possibility. Her mom had always been over-protective and she had gone into hyperdrive lately.

Despite her words, however, Paige made no move to get out of the car. She sat, playing idyly with the door handle and looking at Emily.

"Tell me how your test goes?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah. Of course. Thanks again, for helping me study."

"It was my pleasure."

Paige took a breath so deep that Emily saw her shoulders shift in the darkness. "A'right. See you later, then. I guess." She nodded briskly and turn in her seat to go.

"Paige, wait." Emily called her back as she was halfway out of the car. She dropped back into her seat and turned to face Emily once again. Now that she had her attention, Emily was tongue tied. "Just, goodnight," she mumbled, feeling lame.

"Goodnight," Paige murmured. Emily could feel her eyes on her but couldn't bring herself to meet her gaze.

"See you tomorrow?" She slid forward in her seat and extended her arms in the universal signal for "come here." She couldn't go for the goonight kiss, but she could go for a hug. That was perfectly acceptable, right? Friends hugged.

"See you tomorrow." Paige leaned forward into the embrace. Her long arms folded around Emily's back and her head nestled neatly in the crook of her shoulder. Emily shivered lightly at the feel of Paige's breath against the side of her neck, and the light tickle of her hair against her jaw.

Her heart seized in her chest, missing a beat, maybe two as they lingered in the hug. Slowly, reluctantly, Emily loosened her grip around Paige's shoulders and eased back. She felt the loss of Paige's warmth as soon as they had fully parted.

Without another word, Paige was gone. The door fell shut with a gentle shud in her wake and Emily was left staring dazedly after her as she hustled up the walkway and dissapeared into the shadows of her porch. She waited until she saw a light come on in the entryway before pulling away.


End file.
